It can only be uphill from here
by ChampagneWishes
Summary: Sequel to "Downhill". Everyone's back in the OC as Ryan struggles to recover from his injury, Seth struggles to get past his own selfishness, Marissa seems oblivious to Oliver's deceptions, and Summer learns about heroes
1. Routine

Ryan's morning's had fallen into a sort of strange routine. Wake up in pain, take pain killers, limp to bathroom, limp to house, ignore Seth, be given bagel, eat bagel, fall back to sleep. He felt like he was walking or least hobbling through a strange sort of fog. Time seemed to pass in a strange sort of drip like motion, sometimes minutes seemed to barely pass, other times entire hours would be gone down the drain. He knew Seth was going to school, and Kirsten and Sandy would leave for work, although they would come home constantly throughout the day to check on him, and called him in between. He mostly lay on the couch while the TV blared noisily at him and he stared blankly at the bright screen, barely comprehending even the simplest of plot lines.

Dinner was served every night at the table, but Ryan never made it there. By about four o'clock he had usually given up on trying to be social with the family and retreated to the pool house, where Kirsten or Sandy would bring him dinner, and try to coax him into a conversation. By seven o'clock he would usually be asleep, waking up at least once during the night, his knee jolting him awake with wracking waves of pain until he took another pill.

Luke had called. Marissa had called. Twice. Even Summer had called him once. When had she gotten his number? But he didn't have the energy or motivation to actually answer their phone calls. He sent Luke a text, saying thanks again. Everyone else he just ignored.

The week slowly passed, and every day the pain seemed to get a little bit better, and life wasn't so bad. Of course, being high on pain killers the whole time didn't hurt. He would see Seth occasionally sneaking guilty glances towards him, but he ignored them. If Seth had something to come out and say, then he should come out and say it. Period. Ryan and no interest in absolving him without a least some form of an apology.

One morning, he awoke to find Kirsten by his bed side, she was rousing him for a visit to the orthopedist who had been recommended by Dr. Robert's as the best in Orange County, but an appointment had been impossible to get, and or at least would have been impossible had Dr. Robert's not pulled a few strings at Kirsten's behest. She explained all this, as she tried to get him up, dressed and into to the car, not an easy task these days.

Ryan hated car rides with the uncomfortable full- leg brace that had completely immobilized his leg. He would sit in the front, with the seat pushed back as far as possible, but he always managed to bump it or nudge it and even the smallest jolt from a pot hole or speed bump made him cringe. Worst of all, the Doctor had requested that he not take any pain killers prior to the appointment so he could do a full assessment, so he hadn't taken anything since about 2am that morning, nearly 10 hours ago. The longest he had been without them since he had gotten home. The fuzz around his head was gradually clearing, but all that seemed to do was let in the pain.

Kirsten helped him from the car and they made their way into the enormous complex where Dr. Samuels had his office. Ryan was silent as they rode the elevator up, praying silently for good news, or a miracle might be nice. Wasn't Chrismakkah just around the corner?

"Nervous?" Kirsten asked him.

Ryan shrugged as well as he could with the crutches wedged into his armpits, "What can he tell me that would be worse than anything I've already heard?"

Kirsten sighed sympathetically, she too hoping for good news, Ryan seemed so defeated and depressed, sleeping upwards of twelve hours a day. She knew his body needed rest, but it was just so unlike the Ryan she had come to know. He had always had a fire inside of him, and now that fire seemed to be dying. Maybe Dr. Samuels would have a way to give him back a little spark.

They had to wait in line at the front desk, and Kirsten could feel Ryan getting antsy and tense. His knee must have been hurting, without any painkillers and being forced to stand like this, even though it wasn't as though he were actually putting any weight on it, he only seemed comfortable at home when he could keep the leg in an elevated position.

Finally they checked in and were informed that the doctor was running behind, the wait would be at least half an hour. Ryan wanted to turn around and go home the moment he heard that, but Kirsten nudged him towards the chair and he managed to lower himself into it. Kirsten found him a Sport's Illustrated that wasn't too far out of date, and settled down with a People for herself, along with a stack of forms about insurance and how the injury had occurred. Ryan read listlessly about professional athletes in the height of their physical prowess, and felt little sympathy for the reports of a sprained ankle of a basketball player and tendonitis in the shoulder of a baseball player.

Finally it was there turn to be seen, and Ryan got painfully to his feet and shuffled to the door that was being held open for them, and they were shown to a room where a nurse took his blood pressure and temperature and then told them the doctor would be in to seem them shortly.

Ryan lay down, and closed his eyes, bending his good knee and trying to keep the injured one as still as possible. He had almost fallen asleep, when the doctor came in and slowly opened his eyes.

"Ryan? Mrs. Atwood?" A woman with a blonde ponytail bustled in, staring down at the chart.

"It's Cohen," Ryan correct her.

"What?" The woman glanced up, she wore frameless glasses and had a rosebud mouth and bright blue eyes.

"I'm Atwood, she's Cohen." The sentence had exhausted him, and his eyes slid shut of their own accord.

"Oh, I see," She went back to looking at his chart. Kirsten reached into her pocketbook and pulled out a CD with his x- rays and his MRI. Without a word, Dr. Samuels took the disk and popped it into her computer and began to look it over, taking quick notes. "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

"Right now?" Ryan asked.

"Yes,"

"Like a seven or an eight, I guess." He hated that stupid scale.

"That's a pretty bad break, but your lucky, it wasn't complete or that bone would have separated and you would have needed surgery." She was peering at his x- rays on her computer, Ryan had opened one eye to get a better view of what she was doing.

"Okay…" She stood and came over to the table

"Can you sit up and raise that leg for me?" Ryan, with a slight gasp of pain, managed to do a straight leg raise.

"Alright the muscular skeletal structure is intact. You're taking… Vicodin, correct?"

"Yes,"

"Alright, I'm going to give you something else, we don't want that stuff eating through your stomach." She scribbled something down on a prescription pad. "Also, I want you start physical therapy, the sooner you start moving the less likely you will be to lose mobility in that knee." She scribbled something else out on a separate sheet. "My office can make recommendations for physical therapist." She then turned and examined the knee brace, "I'm going to put you in brace with ROM hinges, so you can start working on your flex range." Ryan and Kirsten nodded numbly, they had no idea what this woman was talking about. She then departed the room.

"Uh… Are we supposed to go?" Ryan asked.

"No, I don't think so," Kirsten patted his good leg, "I think we're supposed to wait here. She needs to get you a new brace."

"Oh… Right…" Ryan sighed, "She's not very friendly is she?"

"She seems very busy…" Kirsten said, trying to comfort Ryan. She could tell he was tired and in pain. It was awhile before she returned, carrying another enormous brace that looked no more comfortable than the one he already had on.

"Alright, this brace might be a little better for you, it's designed for these types of injuries specifically."

"These happen a lot?" Ryan asked, moderately surprised.

"I wouldn't say they're common, but you're not the first and I doubt you'll be the last." Dr. Samuel's said. "But usually they require surgery, like I said, you're lucky. It's because you're young, the bone was less brittle,"

"Lucky… yeah…"

"Like I said," Dr. Samuel's reminded him, "It could have been much worse." She said, as she gently undid the Velcro binding his leg.


	2. Eye Contact

"Hey Seth," Marissa always felt slightly awkward around Ryan's step brother, even though she had known him practically her whole life, up until recently they had never interacted much.

"Hi," He avoided looking her in the eye.

"I uh… How's it going?" She managed.

"Fine." He slammed his locker. School was hell without Ryan. And worse, once he got home Ryan was mad at him and he wasn't even sure what he had done. Although whatever he had done, Marissa had probably done worse.

"How's Ryan?" She managed to ask.

"Fine." Seth said.

"He hasn't been in school."

"Yeah, it's hard for him to get around and stuff, I guess."

"Oh right… I called him. He didn't return my call, do you think I should go and see him?"

"Uh, he's not feeling great. I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Oh, okay…" Marissa wanted to say more. She wanted to say Ryan hadn't returned her calls. She wanted to ask permission to come over and see him. She wanted to tell Seth... No she wanted to tell Ryan how stupid she had been. She should have paid better attention. She didn't realize how hurt he was, but Oliver had needed her. Couldn't he understand that? Well, okay, Oliver was less hurt than Ryan but still, they had been in a car accident. She wanted to tell him all of this, explain it all to him. But he wouldn't give her the chance. He wouldn't even take her calls. Seth was standing in front of her, looking impatient, as if he had some place more important to be.

"Hey Seth," Anna came up and linked her arm through his, "Ready to go to class?" She glanced at Marissa warily, "Hey Marissa,"

"Hey Anna," Marissa managed a small smile. "I uh, guess I'll see you around." She managed weakly, then turned and walked away.

"What was that about?" Anna asked.

"I dunno, I think she wants to talk to Ryan or something."

"Oh, right... How's he doing?"

"He's pretty much just pissed off at the whole world."

"So he's still mad at you, huh?"

"He shouldn't be! I didn't do anything wrong!" Seth protested.

"I know, but right now he's just mad and lashing out everyone I think. It wouldn't hurt if you..."

"If I what?"

"Well, maybe you should apologize to him..."

"What? Why?"

"Look, I think it kind of was Luke and Summer mostly taking care of him. And he's mad at Marissa, and he needs you, but you need to make the first move."

"You make it sound like I'm asking him out on a date,"

"I was just thinking about it, and I think we should have done more..."

"I stood up for him when he was going to fight Oliver," Seth pouted. Anna gave him a look. "Alright, alright. I'll talk to him. But no promises. It's not really me he's mad at..."

"No, but an apology would be a good start."


	3. Apologies and Comic Books

"Can I come in?" Seth asked. He had just gotten home and before he did anything else, he made his way over to the pool house.

"I can't stop you," Ryan told him grumpily. He was sitting up in bed and reading a comic book.

"I uh…" Seth stood there awkwardly, unsure how to begin.

"Spit it out Seth…" Ryan told him impatiently, flipping the page of the comic book roughly. Seth winced involuntarily, he didn't like it when his comic books were handled so abusively, especially when forced to take the brunt of anger that was really directed at him.

"Look, I'm sorry…" Ryan looked up at him, mild amusement flickering in his eyes. "I should have been… A better brother last week. I got so caught up with Anna and I don't know. I guess I didn't really think you needed me."

"Alright, apology accepted." Ryan told him gruffly, turning back to the comic.

"So you forgive me?" Seth said.

Ryan shrugged, "It's not a big deal. Whatever." Seth was getting the feeling that Ryan was still kind of pissed, but he had apologized, what else was he supposed to do? Him and Anna hadn't covered any further ground.

"I uh… Saw Marissa today."

"Well you do go to the same school," Ryan said, his voice edging on annoyed, he didn't look up from the comic.

"She said she wanted to talk to you, and that you weren't answering her calls."

"Oh good, she noticed." Ryan kept reading.

"Right… Well, maybe we'll see you at dinner." And then he left, feeling sad and cold. He had to make it up to Ryan, but he just wasn't sure what he could do… He trudged back to the kitchen, wishing he felt better about the whole thing. Or that he knew what to do. Abruptly he turned around and walked back to the poolhouse, "Hey, do you need anything from the house?"

Ryan looked up at him surprised, and Seth realized that was the first time he had offered Ryan any help since he had gotten home. Of course, Ryan could always ask if he needed something, but well, Ryan just wasn't like that. Seth realized that Ryan was in fact, quite helpless right now and forced to rely on everyone around him for help, but that didn't mean he liked asking.

"Ah, no, but thanks." Ryan said, and almost smiled.

"You sure? I just got some new ones..."

"Really?" Ryan perked up slightly. "I've been reading the same five for about two days..." He confessed.

"Oh yeah, it's time for some new reading material." Seth said, and when he left the pool house this time there was a new spring in his step.


	4. Kiss and Tell

For dinner that night, Ryan decided to join his family at the table. Him and Seth had spent most of the afternoon reading comics in the pool house, and strangely Ryan didn't want to be left alone after Kirsten called out the door that dinner was ready. When he appeared in the kitchen, he noticed a place wasn't set for him, but Kirsten made it seem as though she had just been in the middle of setting the table and hadn't finished yet. She asked Seth to help, as Ryan lay down on the couch. His leg still wasn't comfortable when he was left in a sitting position with it stretched awkwardly out in front of him. Of course, it was almost never comfortable, but sitting or standing on crutches was the worst. He was very relieved Kirsten still hadn't brought up the question of just when he would be returning to school. He kept telling himself that he was avoiding school because of the pain in his leg and how difficult it was to get around, and not because he was avoiding Marissa.

"Woah, Ryan, you made it out of the pool house," Sandy greeted him with a broad smile when he saw Ryan splayed out on the couch. "Joining us for dinner?" Ryan nodded, and without his having to ask, Sandy helped him get to his feet and limp over to the table. While he wouldn't go so far as to actually lean on anyone for physical support, Ryan had gotten more comfortable with his family helping him out with certain things. Like standing up. Except when he went to the bathroom. That was where he drew the line.

As he sat down at the table, and Kirsten filled his china soup bowl with something that smelled absolutely delicious, Ryan couldn't help but feel a warm glow of contentment. Which was quickly ended when Seth accidently kicked his foot. Ryan grunted in pain, and Seth, after glancing under the table came up looking guilty.

"Sorry, I thought you were a table leg." He said, his face beet red.

"No, just flesh and broken bone," Ryan said, grimacing as his leg continued to twang uncomfortably. Then seeing Sandy gearing up to give Seth a lecture he quickly put in, "It's okay, I know it was just an accident." Sandy looked slightly deflated, but he picked up his spoon and began to quietly eat his soup.

About an hour later, dinner was winding down and Ryan's leg had had just about enough, so he got up and gratefully limped over to the couch where he lay down, hoping to recover slightly before making the journey back to the pool house. Just as he was lying down, the doorbell rang and Seth eagerly went to get it. "Hey Anna- my Anna, what did you do to your hair?" Ryan was wondering what that was about, when a high- pitched male falsetto responded.

"My Seth, thank you for noticing," Then the voice returned to normal. "Is Ryan around?"

"Hey Luke," Ryan yelled from the couch. While he was loathe to speak to most of the OC right now, but Luke was an exception. After all, he would have been screwed at the mountain without Luke there to help him.

"Hey man, how are you feeling?" Luke came into view.

"Like hell," Ryan grunted, but his face twisted into a small smile.

"You look like it,"

"Yeah well, if you ever wanted to kick my ass, now would be the time. Might be the only time you could beat me in a fight."

Seth, feeling left out scoffed, "Come on Ryan, even I could take you right about now."

Luke looked Seth up and down and then looked back at Ryan, "I don't know, might be a tough call." The three boys all chuckled slightly, then went kind of quiet.

"I just wanted to stop by and say hi," Luke said, "Make sure the Cohen's were treating you all right."

"We were just about to watch a movie," Seth offered, "You can join, I guess."

"We were?" Ryan said, but he didn't see why not, not moving sounded good.

"Yeah sure," Luke said, settling down in a chair while Seth went off to find where his Dad had taken the mail, and the latest Netflix.

As soon as he was gone, Ryan turned to Luke, "Have you talked to Summer?"

"Hmm?" Luke said.

"At the Lodge… I thought…" Ryan had been pretty out of it, but there had been something there.

"Oh yeah…" Luke's ear's turned red. Ryan smirked. "It was nothing. Nothing happened."

"Right…"

"I mean… After Marissa and everything, I just don't think it was anything. Maybe a little oxygen deprivation…"

"Did anything happened?"

"Well, we kissed." Luke shrugged.

"Who kissed?" Seth had reappeared, red Netflix in hand.

"Nobody," Luke said quickly.

"Luke and Summer," Ryan said, without thinking. Seth was with Anna now, he had forgotten…

"You kissed Summer?" Seth stared in disbelief at Luke.

"Seth, it really wasn't a big deal. I was just telling Ryan, it really didn't mean anything. It was just oxygen deprivation or something…"

"Seth, what do you care? You're with Anna!"

"Yeah, but-" Seth wasn't really sure what right he had to be angry, but he was so he flung down the Netflix and stomped from the room. Wishing he was bigger and could punch Luke like Ryan would have done. Storming off seemed very childish and ineffective.

"I guess I'll just be going…" Luke said, standing up.

"Yeah," Ryan said wistfully, wishing he had kept his mouth shut.


	5. Dessert or Deserters?

"…Unless it's cool if I stay…" Luke stopped.

"Yeah, whatever man," Ryan had been alone for almost a week. Normal human companionship seemed appealing. What was Seth's deal anyway?

Upstairs, Seth sat on his bed, talking to Captain Oats. "I'm an idiot. A childish idiot." He told the plastic horse. "I should just go downstairs and apologize or…" He flushed red when he remembered again how he had stormed out of the room. That was embarrassing. As if things weren't already weird enough between him and Ryan. In fact, they were barely back to normal and then he had done something stupid and childish like this. Then he remembered Anna was supposed to be coming over. Which meant he had to go back downstairs. As if on cue, the doorbell rang.

He jumped up from his bed, and pounded down the steps. Maybe if he cut her off at the door they could just escape the house. Go to the Bait Shop or something. Anything. Ice cream on the pier. Yes! What a fantastic idea! The fantasy had just finished percolating when he saw that his mom had already reached the door.

"Summer! How good to see you!" Kirsten had gotten there first and was clearly trying not to sound too surprised.

"Uh, yeah… I made some cookies for Ryan."

"You did?" The words escaped before he could stop them.

"Yeah, I did- _Seth,_" She snapped at him, then turned back to Kirsten, "Is he home?"

"Yeah, he's in the living room watching TV with Seth,"

"And Luke!" Seth announced and was pleased when Summer's face turned three shades of red.

"You know, I actually gotta get going… I have uh… SAT Prep! Bye Mrs. Cohen!" And then she was gone. Seth smirked.

"What was that all about?" Kirsten asked.

"No clue," Seth shrugged. Just as Kirsten closed the door, the bell rang again.

"When did we become so popular?" She asked, opening the door.

Seth smiled, relieved to see Anna, "Hey Anna," He bounced down the remaining steps.

"Hi Mrs. Cohen, hey Seth," Anna smiled politely.

"Well, we were just on our way out. Down to the pier for some ice cream. See ya!" Seth said, starting out the door.

"You were?"

"We were?"

"Uh yeah, I thought it'd be nice. It's so nice outside, I thought a walk would be nice,"

"A walk? Outside?" Kirsten stared at her son, wondering what he was up to. He had never used those two words in the same sentence before. She was tempted to feel his forehead.

"Yeah, alright. The night is waiting!" And with that, he grabbed Anna's arm and was out the door before Kirsten could say another word.


	6. The Study Session

"You've got to be kidding me…" Summer muttered, as she tried to hide her face behind her hot chocolate. She had decided to follow her own lie and had taken her SAT study book and gone to their favorite diner. Go figure Luke would appear. He noticed her, and for a moment they just sort of stared. Neither of them sure what to do. Finally, Luke looked away and Summer gratefully went back to her reading. Then a shadow passed over her table. She looked up. Luke was standing there, holding two mugs of hot cocoa.

"I'm busy Luke, go away."

"So I am," He held up his own SAT prep book. Grudgingly, Summer pulled her book slightly closer so Luke would have room for his on the table.

"I thought you were at Ryan's."

"I was, but he was kind of tired, so I figured I let him just chill. You know." Luke didn't want Summer to know that she was the reason he had left. That Seth had just found out that they had kissed. Then he stopped, "How did you know I was there?"

"I uh… I stopped by and dropped off some cookies."

"You made cookies?"

"Why is everyone so surprised by this?"

"Seth knows." Luke said suddenly.

"Seth knows what? That I can make cookies?"

"No… Seth knows we kissed."

"Oh…" Summer said, then she recovered. "So?"

"You're not mad?"

"No, I hope it drives him mad with jealousy." Summer smiled deviously, "Marissa doesn't know though, right?"

"No… Have you seen Marissa?"

"No, not since we got back. You?"

"Me? Come on, she pretty much hates me."

"She doesn't hate you."

"Well, I don't really like her much right now."

"Yeah… Oh, speaking of the devil." Marissa had just walked into the diner, followed by the real devil himself. Oliver.

"Hey guys!" Marissa spotted them and waved excitedly.

"Does she not know we hate her?" Luke hissed.

"She's probably drunk," Summer said cheerily, waving back with a smile.

"Oh right…" Luke slunk lower in his seat. When had Marissa become so screwed up?

Oliver and Marissa sidled over to their table, and they made a great show of hemming and hawing. Clearly they wanted to sit next to one another. With a big sigh and a show of gathering up her books, Summer got up and went to sit next to Luke. If Marissa thought there was anything strange about finding the two of them together, she didn't say anything. Instead she launched into some story about going to the mall with Oliver and seeing some Reese Witherspoon shopping there. Oliver just sat there, leering slightly, at Summer and Luke.


	7. The Atwood Luck

Sandy gently shook Ryan's shoulder, and slowly his hazy blue eyes opened. "Hey kiddo..."

"Hey..." Ryan said, pushing himself upright, and feeling a little disoriented. He vaguely rememembered Luke leaving, and Seth's trantrum, but after that things got... Blurry. Alright, there was a downright blank sport. "What time is it?"

"Almost ten, guess all that socializing wore you out."

"Yeah," Ryan said, swinging himself carefully around. He hated feeling this weak and crippled. Sandy handed him his crutches and he managed to lurch upright.

"Need a hand?" Sandy offered.

"No thanks, I'm fine..." Ryan said, as he slowly made his way out to towards the pool house. Sandy followed at a discreet distance, trying not to hover. Then Ryan stopped, and slowly turned. "You know... It's not fair."

"What's that?" Sandy asked.

"This..." He said, looking down in disgust at his broken leg. "The Atwood Luck... Everything seemed like it was going pretty good... And then this... And now Marissa's off with Oliver, and Seth and I are barely speaking and... It's just... Not fair." Ryan finished, shaking his head.

Sandy walked over to him and gave him a gentle pat on the back, "I know kid... I know..."


	8. Coincidence

"Come on Ryan, time to get up…" Kirsten was shaking his shoulder, trying to make him wake up.

"Eh?" He raised his head and looked around. Why was Kirsten bothering him? She usually just let him sleep.

"First of physical therapy today," She told him.

"Oh right…"

"And then I thought we could stop by the school, pick up some of your work…" So the sympathy was over, Ryan realized. "I spoke to Dr. Samuels and Dr. Kim. After we do the physical assessment with the physical therapist today we're going to figure out how much longer until you can head back to school. Maybe arrange for a tutor if it's gong to be more than another week or so."

"A tutor?"

"Yes, the school will provide you one."

"Oh…" Ryan said, he was always in a haze whenever he first woke up the morning. He blamed the painkillers. "Okay,"

"Do you think you would want a tutor? Or would you prefer to go back to school?"

"I thought you said it was up to the physical therapist…" Ryan said, trying to dodge answering.

"Well, it will be up to the two of you. After all, they can only do an assessment, ask questions, do some exercises. They can't know how you feel."

"I feel like I want a few more hours sleep…" Ryan told Kirsten.

"After we run these errands," Kirsten promised. Okay, so maybe sympathy wasn't totally over. "Now get dressed." She said, dropping a pile of clean sweats on the bed.

*********************

"Hi, my name's Pam! I'm going to do your assessment today!" A perky girl with short red pig tails greeted when they walked into the physical therapy center, which looked to Ryan just like a fancy gym. In the far corner, a fat man sweated on an exercise bike while the therapist coached him onward.

"Thatta boy Gerry! Good job! Keep it up!" As the man huffed and puffed, his face beat red. "Keep breathing…" The trainer or therapist reminded him.

"Don't worry Ryan, we're going to start you out on something a little easier." The trainer promised, patting him lightly on the shoulder.

It turned out that Ryan couldn't begin any real therapy for another week or so, but at the end of this week, they were going to take away his crutches and make him start bending his knee.

"Don't worry, it's not so bad." The trainer reassured him.

"My leg is broken… How can I walk on it?" Ryan asked testily.

"The brace will help support you, and by then a lot of the pain will be gone. Alright, now for the fun part!" The fun part turned out to be electrodes planted around his knee, and then running several volts of electricity through his leg.

"It brings down the swelling." Pam said. Ryan decided that he wanted to put several volts of electricity through her.

Finally her time of torturing him ended, and Ryan was released back to Kirsten. "Want to get some food before we head over to the school?" She asked.

Ryan shook his head, "No, just wanna get this over with… Can I wait in the car?"

"No, sorry."

"But I'm not in dress code, I might get detention!" Ryan tried a new tactic.

"I swear… You start to sound more like Seth every day!" Kirsten told him, and Ryan knew it wasn't a compliment, and stopped complaining.

Dr. Kim was waiting for them in her office. She waited patiently as Ryan hobbled into seat. "Now Ryan, how long do they think until you're back on your feet?" She faced Ryan, but Ryan could tell she was really talking to Kirsten.

"A few more weeks, and he'll be able to walk around, with the brace of course."

"A few more weeks?" Dr. Kim asked, "Well, Ryan, then I guess the choice is up to you. You are welcome to return to school, special exception will be made of course to help you get from class to class ahead of the rush, and you'll be exempt from certain classes of course, and given ample time to make up your missed work. Or you can have a home tutor."

"I'd rather…" Then Ryan's eyes fell on a folder on the desk. It was marked application, and the form was falling out of it. Ryan swore he saw the name "Oliver" written on it. It could be a coincidence… Or not, "I'd rather come back."

"Excellent, then can we expect you tomorrow Mr. Atwood?"

"Let's wait until next week," Kirsten said quickly. "He's still in a lot of pain."

"Alright then, we'll see you next week."

"Yeah…" Ryan said, as he climbed back to his feet. "Next week…" _Will Oliver be here too?_

A/N: *hint hint*

Oooh look, 2 chappies in one day! And look, this one's nice a long...


	9. Forgiveness and Text Books

"So Ryan's going back to school on Monday," Kirsten smiled happily as she scooped salad onto his plate. He'd made it to the dinner table for the second night in a row, but Kirsten had been quick to notice that moving around to reach and grab stuff was hard for him, so without asking she had taken it upon herself to serve him. Ryan was grateful, and relieved that Seth and Sandy declined to comment on the baby-ish treatment.

"That's great Ryan!" Sandy said, beaming. He'd been worried about the kid, and hoped that when his life normalized a little more he might snap out of his funk a little.

"Yeah Ryan, that's awesome!" Seth chimed in, although he didn't look quite as enthusiastic as Sandy. In fact, he didn't even meet Ryan's eye. Sandy and Kirsten exchanged a glance, that didn't go unnoticed by Ryan.

"Yeah Seth, thanks..." He muttered, picking at the thick steak that had landed on his plate. An awkward silence fell over the table.

"So Seth's, how's school?" Sandy managed.

"Fine..." Seth muttered.

"Ryan went to his first physical therapy session today too,"

"Oh yeah?" Sandy asked, "How'd that go?"

"Fine..." Ryan muttered. After that, the rest of the meal was completed in almost complete silence.

After dinner, Sandy went upstairs and found Seth reading a comic book by himself in his room, "What's going on with you?" He asked.

"What? Nothing..." Seth muttered, rolling over, and continuing to read the comic book. "Then why are you up here, by yourself?"

"Is that a problem?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, it's a problem. I don't know how more ways to tell you this, but Ryan needs you right now."

"Ryan's tough, he can take care of himself."

"Yes Seth, of course he can, but we're a family. And in a family, if someone needs you, even if they don't ask, you put aside whatever petty differences you may be having and you make sure you're there for them."

"Fine..." Seth said, sighing. As much as he hated to admit it, his father was right, and it wasn't Ryan's fault that Luke and Summer had somehow ended up... Okay, he wasn't going to think about that too much. He grabbed a couple of comic books, and ignored his father's satisfied smile as he made his way down the steps and into the pool house.

***************************

"Hey buddy, how's it going?" Seth asked, as he walked into the pool house.

"Fine..." Ryan looked up from the thick textbook on his lap, if he was going back to school soon, he needed to start doing all his makeup work- some of which they had picked up today during the visit to the shool. He was a little surprised to see Seth standing there in front of him, he thought he was still mad at him because he had told him about Luke and Summer.

"I uh..." Seth scratched his head, as if he was a little unsure about what he was doing there. "Thought you could use a break from studying?" Seth said, holding up the comic books he had brought with him.

"I just started like fifteen minutes ago," Ryan said.

"Then it's definitely time for a break," Seth said, tossing him one of the comics. Ryan smirked, but obligingly picked up the comic book. Seth settled himself in the chair at the desk, and the two sat in companionable silence for awhile. "So, you're going back to school next week?" Seth asked.

"Yeah," Ryan nodded.

"That's cool, it pretty much sucks without you."

"Thanks Seth," Ryan smiled a little.

"So you're leg's feeling better?"

Ryan shrugged, "A little, I guess. I'll be able to walk on it."

"That's a start," Seth said.

"That's actually..." Ryan wasn't sure how to start, "I think Oliver's coming to Harbour."

"Huh?" Seth asked.

"When we were with Dr. Kim today, I saw a file on her desk for a transfer. The first name was Oliver-"

"Ryan, there are a million Oliver's." Ryan raised an eyebrow, "Okay, so maybe not a million. But why would he come to Harbour? Doesn't he have his own fancy private school?"

Ryan shrugged, "I don't know... But if he is coming... I want to be there too."

"Have you talked to Marrisa? She'd probably know..." Seth pointed out. Ryan looked away.

"No, we haven't talked."

"She's worried about you, you know."

"Well, she sure does a good job of showing it." Ryan said.

"Maybe she's just embarrassed or something... She tried to call you. She wanted to come over too... But I told her that wasn't such a good idea..."

"Thanks Seth,"

"So, are you going to talk to her?"

"Maybe... I don't know if I'm ready yet..."

"Yeah..." Ryan picked up his textbook, the comic book lay forgotten, and went back to studying, signaling and end to the conversation.

**A/N: I really need a beta- anyone interested?**


	10. Rumor has it

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Kirsten asked, as she pulled the Range Rover up to the front of the school. "I don't want you to feel like I'm pushing you or something..."

"It's fine..." Ryan gave her a small smile, "Now that I can sorta walk, it's pretty much torture to be stuck in the house all day."

"I know, but if you need anything or decide you do want to make it half day, you'll call me, right?"

"Yeah," Ryan said, sliding sideways out of the car, then seeing Kirsten's eyes boring into him to extract a more sincere promise, "I'll call." He balanced carefully on one leg as Seth got out of the back and handed him his crutches. With the help of the crutches, he had started being able to put some pressure on his leg. Next week or two Pam said they were going to take away the crutches all together, before the leg muscles atrophied any further.

It was only when he started limping up the handicap ramp that led into the school and noticed the gathered students gawking at him, that he began to have second thoughts. He focused on just taking the next step. He could feel Seth's presence beside him, but they didn't share many classes, Ryan took several advanced math and science classes while Seth preferred art classes.

"Hey Seth, hey Ryan," A cheerful voice called.

"Hey Anna," Seth said smiling.

"Hey Anna," Ryan didn't look up, he just focused on just taking another step, and avoiding eye contact with the other students at the school who were all staring at him.

"You're looking better..." She said nervously.

"Thanks..." He said.

"How's your leg?"

"Uh... Anna, maybe we should let him get up the ramp and then start bombarding him, alright?" Seth said, steering Anna out of Ryan's way so he could concentrate on the challenge of just walking. He was still getting used to using the crutches and putting partial weight on his leg.

"Oh right... Sorry..." Ryan saw her feet backing away up the ramp as he made progress foward. God, he wasn't even inside the building yet and he was exhausted.

As he reached level ground, he was able to move at a slightly more rapid pace, and he finally managed to answer Anna's question, "My leg feels better, thanks for asking."

"Yeah, sure..." Anna said.

"Dude, you're back!" A male voice said. Luke was standing with some of us water polo buddies but he broke away and did a chest pound/hug with Ryan, but gently, so Ryan could stay balanced on his crutches.

"Yeah," Ryan managed to smile. "Had to come back sooner or later..."

"Have you... talked to Marissa?" He asked cautiously.

Ryan shook his head, "Nah man,"

"Yeah..." Luke decided not to tell him about his encounter with Marissa at the diner. "Well, uh, good to see you up and about man,"

"Thanks," Ryan said, moving again towards the school and his first class. At this right, first period would be over by the time he got the door. Seth and Anna, hands clasped together, followed after him, like some sort of parade.

Reaching his classroom was a relief, as he slid into his seat. Even the short walk had worn him out. He was never going to make it through the day, he realized. He was going to have to call Kirsten and ask her to come and get him by lunch time. Or third period. The rest of his classmates were slowly starting to come into the room. A few shot him curious glances, he had been MIA for awhile, and he was sure various rumors had been circulating in his absence.

Ryan opened his binder, and organized his overdue homework, trying hard to avoid eye contact with everyone in the room. He slowly dawned on him how few friends he really had at this school. At his old high school, he had known everyone. He had earned a sort of gritty respect both on his own merits/ fights he had won and being Trey's brother. Here, he looked around the classroom, he knew almost everyones name, but no one well. For instance, there was no one he could ask to pass his homework to the front, and he was faced with two options. Hope his teacher would come to his desk and collect it, or manage to get back to his feet and hobble to the front of the classroom and leave it on the teacher's desk.

"Hey, do you want me to pass that in for you?" A girl with bright brown eyes asked. From the drudges of his mind he managed to pull a name to memory.

"That'd be great, thanks, Taylor." He hoped he had her name right. He must have because the girl, Taylor, smiled.

"No problem, Ryan." As she swept the papers off his desk, "By the way, just so you know, I don't believe any of the rumors."

"Rumors? What?" He stared at her, she blinked at him innocently.

"You know... About you drunk driving, and crashing with Marissa in the car."

"Uh yeah..." Ryan felt his shoulders sag, "It was a skiing accident."

"Really?" Taylor's eyebrows shot up.

"Yeah, really." He could tell from her expression that she didn't totally believe him.

"I wouldn't peg you as the skiing type." She told him, bluntly.

"I'm not," Ryan said, "It's probably why I fell and broke my leg." He managed to smile slightly, and Taylor returned the smile, slightly nervously, then walked over to the teacher's desk and dropped Ryan's homework on to it, and returned to her seat, without making eye contact. Ryan sighed, what had that been all about? He suspected that her friendliness had more to do with trying to get to the bottom of the rumors than any genuine urge to help him out. He was relieved when their teacher finally showed up and started class.


	11. The New Kid

Third period was over. He had survived most of the morning. Now he just had to get through English, which he had the misfortune of sharing with Marissa, and then it was lunch time. But lunch time was taken care of- he had already sent Kirsten a text asking to be picked up. He was completely exhausted and his knee hurt, and after spending two weeks flat on his back, he just didn't have the energy to keep dragging himself painfully through these hallways, especially since he had Gym and Study Hall in the afternoon. He could study just as well at home and clearly he was not going to gym class any time soon.

The only problem with the day being almost over was that he was going to have to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again.

Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw a familiar and unwelcome face- Oliver? Then it was gone. He decided he was just imagining things. He was just tired. Oliver wasn't at Harbor. He had just imagined the whole thing. Well, that was some relief.

He headed into English class, determined to ignore Marissa, as he sat down in a chair in the front row of the classroom. He had already emailed this teacher his missed homework assignments, two essays that had been easy enough to complete even though English wasn't his strongest subject, probably because he just wasn't that interested. He knew he had probably submitted at best a "B" effort, but he hoped that the sympathy factor might add a plus sign.

"Ryan..." Marissa hadn't gotten the memo about ignoring one another.

He looked up, "Marissa," He said, his voice was calm, no emotion, no hint of the betrayal he had felt or the anger.

"I heard you were back."

"Here I am." He said.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I have a broken leg..."

"Right... I mean... I meant... Is it better?"

"Yes, it's all better. I'm just wearing the brace for fun." He was being sarcastic and sort of mean and he knew it, but honestly he didn't care. Or at least he told himself he didn't care.

"Hey Marissa, where do you wanna sit- Ryan! What are you doing here?"

"Oliver..." He snarled, "I go here. I think I should be asking you what you're doing here." Ryan growled, but it was hard to play tough guy when he would never be able to get out of this chair fast enough to throw a decent punch, and Marissa and Oliver were towering over his desk as they stood there.

"I go here now too," Oliver grinned, and Ryan felt a strong desire to knock out the kid's front teeth.

"Of course you do." He muttered.

"How's the leg?" He asked, giving Ryan's out-stretched leg a "friendly" nudge. Ryan just glared at him, and pretended to ignore the sparks of pain that flew up his leg.

"Don't. Touch. Me." He said, wishing he could somehow retaliate, and then noticing to his great embarassment that the whole classroom was intently watching the encounter.

"Easy man... Just being friendly... You know I did just have you over to my house and everything. I don't see why we can't all be friends. I've certainly tried to be your friend." Oliver said, pouting slightly, as if he was somehow the injured party in all of this. Ryan's fists clenched and unclenched. Marissa seemed to notice Ryan's unhappiness, because she wisely chose that moment to step between them.

"You know, Oliver, maybe we can all talk about this later." She pushed him towards two empty seats towards the back of the classroom.

"Right, I'll see you later..." He told Ryan, with a sly grin. Ryan was about four seconds away from shoving his desk to the floor and stumbling over to Oliver and kicking his butt, but a hand on his arm stopped him.

"Not worth it dude..." Luke had miraculously appeared at just the right moment. He sat down next to Ryan.

"I'm gonna kill him..." Ryan growled under his breath.

"Not if he kills you first..." Luke warned him, it was true. Ryan was at serious disadvantage, and Oliver had already proven that he was willing to fight dirty, even if it wasn't a fight. Like how he had pushed Ryan over when Ryan had been doing nothing more than just standing there.

"I can't believe he goes here now... It's so obvious he's just doing it for her..."

Luke shrugged, "Maybe, I also heard he got kicked out of his old school, and this is one of the best school in the area. I'm not saying I trust him or anything, I'm just saying... Maybe it's not all about Marissa... I'm not saying I'm glad he's here or anything... I'm just saying that maybe there's another explanation."

"Why was he kicked out?" Now Ryan felt like a gossip queen.

"Dunno... That's all I heard." Luke shrugged, "How's the leg?"

"Hurts,"

"Gonna stick it out for the rest of the day?"

Ryan shrugged, "Probably not,"

"Oh." Luke was looking at him expectantly, like somehow he thought Ryan was tough enough to manage to stay.

Ryan sighed, he didn't want to look like a weakling, but he was exahusted and in pain, "I have two study halls in the afternoon," He said, realizing how pathetic that excuse sounded.

"Cool," Luke said.

"Besides, the less time I spend here, they less tempted I'll be to kick Oliver's butt..." He smiled sideways.

*********************************************************

A/N: Show of hands- who wants more hurt Ryan vs Ryan on the mend?

PS I'm on away all weekends so no more updates, but four chappies (incl. two in a new story) in one days should hold you over right? 3


	12. Who Cares?

Ryan felt sick to his stomach with pain and exhaustion by the time Kirsten arrived to pick him up. She was outside waiting for him the moment he limped out of his fourth period class. By now, he had given up putting any pressure on his leg, and rested his full weight on his crutches instead. As he slid into the car, Kirsten noticed immediatly how pale he looked, and the slight sheen of sweat that shone on his forehead. As soon as he got himself into the car and settled, his eyes started to close.

Kirsten patted his good leg gently, "Rough day?"

Ryan nodded without opening his eyes, "Yeah..."

"How's your leg feeling?"

"Hurts." He said.

"Well, let's get you home..." She said, sliding the car into drive and easing it out of the school parking lot, trying to drive as carefully as possible to not jostle Ryan. The drove in silence, Ryan gritting his teeth against the throbbing pain.

Coming home, Ryan hobbled out to the pool house and collapsed on the bed, groaning when he realized his pain killers were in the bathroom. He lay there for a moment, hoping the pain would subside enough to let him get up.

"Can I come in?" Kirsten appeared at the door.

"Yeah..." Ryan said, pushing himself upright into a sitting position on his knuckles.

"Did you take anything?" Kirsten asked.

"No... I was just about..." He moved to stand up, but Kirsten was quicker. She went to the bathroom then came back to his bed holding the amber bottle of pain killers and a glass of cold water. "Thanks..." He said gratefully as she tapped two white pills into his hand. As he took the pills and a swallow of water, he noticed Kirsten watching him intently. She seemed to know it was making him nervous, the way his eyes slid over the top of the glass to meet hers, then back down to the bed and his immobolized leg.

"I'm sorry Ry- I shouldn't have pushed you." She said after a moment, shaking her head. Ryan put down the glass and looked up at her, confused, "I thought... I thought maybe you were avoiding school because of Marissa."

"Marissa?"

"Well, I know you two broke up... And you had been so mopey... I thought maybe trying to get things back to normal for you would help. I'm sorry... I know the pain must be..."

Ryan shook his head, "It's not that bad." He lied. He didn't want Kirsten to feel guilty. She had been nothing if not wonderful through this whole thing. "It's good that I went back to school today." Another lie, "I wouldn't have wanted to fall any further behind." The least of his concerns. Kirsten nodded, but looked thoughtful, as if she didn't entirely believe in. Ryan held his breath, hoping she would just drop it. She seemed to have heard his silent pleas because after a moment, she decided to take her leave.

She grabbed his cell phone from where it was in a visible side pocket on his back pack and placed it on the table next to his bed, "Call if you need anything." She said with a little smile, she knew he wanted to be independent, but she wanted him to know that if he needed her, she would be right there.

Ryan watched her close the doors, before he let his eyes fall shut, blocking out the halos that formed around his vision as the vicodin started kicking in, blurring the edges of his reality. He was grateful that the white pills would help him sleep, because right now, more than ever he needed t escape. His airy pool house felt like a prison, and he was trapped within its walls. He tried not to think about his friends at Harbour, who would at lunch right now. Oliver was there, amongst them now. Like a snake rustling through the grass, and all the other animals were welcoming him into their midst.

He jerked himself back from that fantasy. Damn pain killers. Seth had told him his theory, after Ryan had described a particularly strange tangent of thought stemming from the video game they were playing, that the pain killers didn't actually do anything for the pain. They just made you so loopy that you stopped feeling it or caring if you did. Right now, Ryan welcomed that feeling. He didn't want to care. He didn't want to care about the fact that Oliver had somehow infiltrated Harbour, wrapping his claws tighter around Marissa. He felt his hands clenching at the soft sheets, and wished that he could just fight Oliver face to face. Or that Marissa would wake up, and see the truth. Why was she dertimined to ignore the obvious. Oliver was in love with her, and he was willing to go to any length to make her his.

Was he really the only one who saw through Oliver's flimsy facade and into that dark pit that was his soul. Like the car accident. And the attempts on Ryan's life. Oliver was evil, and Ryan was quiet certain that he was the only one who saw it. The thought made him want to put his fist through a wall.

************************************************

_A/N: Sorry... My muse seems to have just taken off out the window. Pleae hold while I try to go and track her down._


	13. The New Old Summer

"Hey sweetie, how'd you sleep?" Kirsten said, as Ryan limped into the kitchen on his crutches.

"Fine..." He lied. He had tossed and turned all night, and had woken up exhausted.

Kirsten glanced at the clock, "You're up in time for school... Does this mean?"

"Yeah," Ryan nodded, "But I think I'd like to do a half- day again."

Kirsten nodded sympathetically, "Do you want me to call Dr. Kim? Make arrangements for you to do that for the rest of the week?"

Ryan looked at her, obviously relieved, "Would you?"

"Of course." Kirsten smiled at him gently. "And don't forget, you have physical therapy today."

Ryan groaned, "Pam is way too peppy."

Kirsten laughed, "I think she just wants to keep you motivated."

"I'm an invalid... Not a football team..." He muttered as he limped over and poured himself a cup of coffee.

*************************************************************************************

"Back for more?" Luke grinned, when he spotted Ryan resting on the student lounge couch.

"Yeah," Ryan forced himself upright, "Can't hide out forever right?"

Luke shrugged, "Yeah, I guess." He sat down on the couch next to Ryan with a grunt.

"Hey guys," Summer appeared, and took a seat in the armchair across from Ryan a Luke.

"Hey," Ryan said.

"Hey," Luke echoed.

"Aren't you two chatty this morning..." Summer said, whipping out a makeup compact and fluffing her hair, then refining her lipstick with a nail. Ryan and Luke exchanged a glance.

"Who are you dolling yourself up for?" Luke asked, trying not to sound jealous.

Summer snorted, "Not for you."

"I didn't think you were," Luke snapped. "I'm going to get to class. Later Ryan." And he stood up, and walked briskly away.

"Yeah... I'm going too..." Summer said, getting uncertainly to her feet, and tottering away on her impossibly high heals, tugging down her mini-skirt. Ryan wondered vaguely what that was all about. The bell rang, and Ryan managed to haul himself to his feet and limped off to class.

*****************************************************************************

"What are you playing out?" Luke grabbed Summer's arm firmly, but not hard enough to hurt her.

"Playing at?" She asked.

"Come on... The make up... The short skirt. Who are you trying to impress?"

"No one," She said, pulling her arm away. Luke let her go. "And even if I was, it's none of your business."

"Right, of course not. It's not like I even care."

"Good." Summer said, glaring back at him.

"Good." Luke snarled. Wanting nothing more than to take Summer in his arms and kiss her right there in the hallway.

"Hey Summer, looking good." Max said. Luke glowered. Max was on the water polo team with him, tall, with broad shoulders, jet black hair and green eyes, he had his pick of girls at the school. He had dated Holly for awhile, but rumor had it that they had broken up recently.

"Thanks Max," Summer gave a high pitc giggle. Luke stared aghast. Max? Really? He felt stung. Sure, his record wasn't exactly spotless, but next to Max? He turned and stalked away, not daring to look back, even as he sensed Max's eyes going up and down Summer's scantily clad body.

**********************************************************************************

Summer didn't like Max. She was the first to admit that. But Max had two things going for him. He wasn't Seth. And he wasn't Luke. Sure, Luke had been a good friend to Ryan during the whole mountain debacle, but well, he had a history with Marissa. Not that Marissa would have cared. But... Somehow... If she went for Luke, it would be like admitting she and Seth were really over, and she wasn't ready to wave the white flag of surrender.

And sure, Luke had been awesome. Recently. But his history was a little too spotty her for her taste. Max may bounce from girl to girl, but at least he was usually only with one girl at a time. And hopefully, by the time he was done with her. Seth would be totally ready to take her back. And she did prefer brunettes to blondes.

"Can I walk you to class?" Max offered.

"I'd love that..." Summer purred, enjoying the jealous looks that the other girls in the school shot at her as Max and her walked down the hallway side by side.

**********************************************************************************

"Wow Summer... That outfit doesn't make you look like a whore. I don't know why everyone keeps saying that." Seth said, as he walked past Summer's desk.

"Seth..." Anna groaned.

Summer pretended to him ignore him as she preened her hair, "What? Was some lower life form talking to me?" She asked, turning around, and pretending not to see Seth. "Oh hey Anna- how's it going?"

"Uhmm... Fine Summer..." Anna said, feeling uncomfortable.

"Great," Summer flashed a large fake smile, and went back to grooming herself.

"I'm so glad the old's Summer's back," She heard Seth muttered, "That one we saw around here for awhile was way too human. I guess all that deep thought finally made her brain explode."

"Seth..." Anna groaned again, "Just forget about her." Summer could hear the dismay in her voice and was happy. Seth forgetting about her was the last thing she wanted.


	14. I Need a Hero

"Hey Ryan, how's it going?" Oliver grinned at him when he saw him during their shared English class. Ryan clenched his teeth to bite back a response.

Luke came to his defense, "Just keep moving Oliver," He said reasonably.

Oliver pouted, "Really, Ryan, I thought you would have gotten over whatever misunderstanding you and I seem to be having."

"Well, you were wrong." Ryan said, glaring up at Oliver.

"Well then, have it your way… You're just going to make this harder…" He started to walk away.

"Harder? Harder on whom?" Ryan managed to push himself up his seat, one hand on the desk, one hand on the back of the chair. He twisted around to meet Oliver's eyes.

"Why, on Marissa of course. You know she wants nothing more than for all of us to be friends." Oliver said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It really hurts her Ryan, the way you keep pushing her away…"

Ryan felt a wave of anger rise up inside of him, how dare Oliver tell him what Marissa thought. What Marissa felt. It annoyed him, angered him, frustrated him, that Oliver was her confidant, her keeper of secrets, her _best friend._ "Breathe Ryan…" He told himself, don't let him wind you up like that. Don't let him win.

Of course, Marissa chose that moment to come through the doorway, "Hey Luke…" Her voice was friendly, light, "Hey Ryan," less light, more tentative, but it was enough to jolt Ryan, who hadn't seen her coming. At the sound her voice, the smell of her perfume wafted towards him, the curve of her cheek as she walked by, was enough to turn his arms to jelly, and he practically fell back into his seat.

"Smooth…" Luke muttered, as Ryan grimaced in pain as he body objected to the abusive treatment of being shaken like that.

"Shut up…" Ryan hissed, his hand unconsciously going to his bad knee, as he fervently hoped he hadn't jolted the bone out of place.

"I really thought you might swing for him that time… Ryan, you really can't let him get to you like that." Luke cautioned.

"I couldn't reach him…" Ryan grunted.

"I'd say that's for the best- you and I both know that broken leg or not this place would have no trouble getting rid of you if you started a fight with Oliver."

"Yeah, well, what am I supposed to do?" He muttered, turning around to glare angrily at Oliver and Marissa. Oliver was telling Marissa some story, that she obviously found hilarious. She seemed to feel his eyes on her, because she looked up and her eyes met his, but seeing nothing but anger in his face, she quickly looked away, her face troubled. Ryan kept staring, for a moment she kept staring, then Ryan saw Oliver's lips move.

"What's wrong?" He seemed to ask her, reaching out to touch her hand with his own.

"Nothing- What were saying about…?" Her smile returned almost instantly words were drowned out by the class bell ringing, and she seemed to use it as an excuse to pull her hands away from his, and turn to face the front of the classroom.

**************************************************************

Summer and Max were making out in the front seat of BMW 3-series convertible. The top and the windows were up, to ensure maximum privacy in the school parking lot, not that there was much privacy. And besides, Summer didn't care who saw, she wanted people to see, and talk. She wanted to everyone to know that she was on her way back up the social food chain.

Max's hand was sliding further up her thigh, just past the hemline of her skirt, which she felt was quite high enough. Giggling nervously, she pushed it back down and attempted to distract him by deepening her kisses. His hand paused for a moment, then crept back up, again she pushed it back down, but didn't stop her lips from moving, her tongue moving seductively over his. This time, he paused for even less time, before moving back up her thigh.

"Max! Stop!" She said, finally pushing him away and retreating thoroughly to her own seat.

"What? What's wrong?" He looked offended.

She glanced around, "We're in the parking lot?" She said, waving around.

"So?" He asked.

"So!" She exclaimed.

He grinned, "Do you want to go some place more private?" He asked, grinning, leaning in for more kisses, this time his hand snaked its way up her shirt.

She pushed him back, "What? No!" She was horrified by what he was insinuating.

"God Summer- you're such a tease! You dress like that… Kiss me… And then blow me off?"

"Well… I…" Summer was at a loss for words suddenly. She was a tease, she knew that, but that didn't mean that she was willing to go any further than kissing, but she needed to find someway to string him along. "Can't we just keep kissing?" She suggested.

"Well… Alright…" He leaned in again. Kissing her more urgently this time, his kisses getting sloppier, and his hand was back under her shirt in an instant, and now he was gripping her slightly, and when she tried to push him away, his hand only clamped down harder.

"Come on Max," She pulled her face away, "I mean it, stop!"

"You're mouth says stop but your body says don't," He pulled her towards him, and kissed her hard on the lips.

She struggled backwards, "What are you? A bad 90's movie? Get off!" She went to grab the door handle, but Max had no intention of letting her get away.

"Come on baby… You know you want me." His hand was digging into her ribs harder now, and his free hand had grabbed her by the wrist.

"Let me go…" She struggled, but he was bigger, and stronger. Tears sprung into her eyes. Suddenly the door behind Max flew open, and he was being dragged backwards. In surprise, he let go of Summer who scrambled out of the car.

"What the hell man?" Max said, confronting Summer's savior.

"Luke!?" Summer stared aghast. Luke ignored her.

"No means no, bro," Luke said, "Look, no hard feelings, but…"

"No hard feelings?" Max smiled as if he thought that was somehow kind of funny.

"Right…" Luke looked uneasy, he glanced over at Summer. She eyed him uneasily, grateful for her rescue but she saw the fury in Max's eyes.

"Look out!" She cried as Max used Luke's glance at Summer to punch him hard across the face. Luke, caught unprepared, hit the ground hard. A small crowd started to gather to observe the drama.

Luke was back on his feet in an instant and rushed at Max, and knocked him to the ground. Soon the two boys were rolling across the cement, each throwing in punches where they could. Finally, a few other water polo players stepped in and dragged them apart as several teachers swooped down on the scene.

"Both of you! Principal's office! Now!" With a final glare at one another, the two of them started walking to Principal Kim's office, a teacher's firm hand on each of their shoulders.

"Wait! It wasn't Luke's fault!" Summer said, tripping after them in her high heals. The teacher turned around, his hands still holding each of the boy's, "Miss Summer, do you have something to say?"

"Yes… I do… Luke was just defending me…" Tears had sprung to her eyes.

"Very well, come with us then. You can tell your side of the story."

**************************************************************

Principal Kim raised an eye brow as two of the water polo players were unceremoniously pushed into her office, followed by a tearful looking Summer.

"Well?" She asked, looking up at the teacher for guidance.

"Found these two fighting in the parking lot."

"Oh?" She asked, looking annoyed. "What about?"

"He started it!" Max said immediately, "I was just sitting in my car, minding my own business… And he just pulls me out of it, and punches me!" Max explained indignantly.

Luke started to protest, but Summer beat him to it, "Oh right- just minding your own business! I think you mean groping me completely against my will!" She yelled at him, she felt a wave of anger as she thought about what he had been trying to do to her.

"Against your will? Oh please…" He sneered, "You were practically begging me…"

"I know it's probably been awhile since you've had a girl actually say yes Max, but usually her pushing her off, doesn't imply begging! I was watching you!" Luke said.

"Your such a perv Luke!" Max bellowed.

"At least I'm not a rapist!" Luke shot back.

"Woah- woah- Boys!" Principal Kim said. "I'm going to talk to each of you individually, Summer, you can talk first. Can you watch them?" She asked, raising an eye to the teacher who nodded and escorted both boys outside. With them clear, Principal Kim turned to Summer, "You are aware, that an accusation of sexual assault is a very serious charge, one this school will do everything to remedy. As such, this could become a serious inquiry, so I suggest that you have some serious evidence to back up your charge, your word and Luke's may not be enough."

"Is this enough evidence?" Summer asked, thrusting her arm forward, already a bruise in the shape of fingers had formed around her thin wrist. "Or this?" She pulled up her shirt, fingerprint bruises dotted ribs."

"I'm sorry that this happened Summer…" Principal Kim did indeed look genuinely sorry. "I'm going to have to ask you to see the school nurse, if you wish to file a police report we will need evidence… Photographs…" She explained.

Summer nodded, "And Luke really was protecting me…"

"Alright, well, why don't you tell me what happened from the beginning."

*******************************************************************

"Feeling any better?" Summer asked, as she lowered the bag of ice she had been holding over Luke's swollen face.

"A little…" He said, trying to smile. They were sitting in the diner, both of them trying to collect their thoughts before they went home to their parents to explain what they had been doing all afternoon, including giving statements to the police. Luke had escaped punishment from law enforcement officials, but they were waiting on the official verdict from the school. Principal Kim had already advised him to take the next day "off," which a sore and bruised Luke had no trouble agreeing with. Two mugs of hot chocolate sat untouched in front of them. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Summer shrugged, "If you get in trouble, it's not fair…"

"Life isn't fair…" Luke muttered. As glad as he was that he had rescued Summer from her rather undesirable situation, he was rather frustrated that she had ended up in that position in the first place. She had clearly chosen to spend her time with that scumball Max instead of him. For some reason his mind went to Ryan, Marissa and Oliver. Why did the girls at Harbor have such terrible taste in men? He wondered.

"Well… Thanks… For you know…" Summer said, uncomfortably. Neither one of them had addressed the fact that Luke had been clearly watching her.

"No problem… I'd rather get suspended for a few days than see you…" He didn't finish the sentence. There was no need to discuss what might have had happened had Max gotten his way. Luke also felt no small amount of happiness that Summer had rejected his advances.

"Hey guys," A voice, unwelcome to both Luke and Summer said. Seth sidled up next to them, holding tightly to Anna's hand. Summer didn't really want Seth to see her with Luke. And Luke didn't want Summer to see Seth.

"Hey Seth. Hey Anna." Luke and Summer said grimly.

"Woah, Luke… What happened to your face?" Seth asked, as if genuinely concerned.

"I punched him." Summer said, matter-of-factly.

"Woah- really?" Seth asked.

Summer just glared at him, and Luke went back to applying the ice to his aching face. He had a headache and Seth wasn't going to help it. Anna seemed to sense Luke and Summer's displeasure at their company.

"Come on Seth, Ryan's waiting for us." She urged him along. "We're getting take- out," she explained hastily, pushing Seth and his gaping curiosity away from a grateful Luke and Summer.

"He's going to tell Ryan I got messed up…" Luke grumbled.

"Well… Next time, don't get suckered punch." Summer said smugly, giving him a tight-lipped smile.

"That's the point of a sucker punch, you only get one when you're not looking, otherwise he never would have gotten in a punch like that."

"It's amazing how often that seems to happen to you… Ryan… Max… I bet even Seth could get one in on you. For such a big tough water polo player, and I mean… that guy just leveled you!"

"Thanks for reminding me…" Luke grunted, but he knew it was just Summer trying to lighten the mood. "You know… I've also wondered… In a fight who would win, you or Marissa?"

"Oh come on Luke," Summer said, normally she would have refused to take part in this line of conversation, imagining Luke's personal mental image, it probably had something to do with jello, mud, and bikinis, but for once she decided to indulge him, "You know I would totally take out Marissa. I mean, sure she's got that height factor, but you know… I'd take her." Luke had been smiling for a moment, then his face darkened, and instantly Summer knew what he was thinking- the idea of Summer fighting someone bigger than her was an image that at the moment wasn't particularly funny. Mud and Jello aside. "We should get home." Summer said quietly.

"Yeah…" Luke agreed, getting to his feet, his sore ribs protesting, and he realized one of his wrists was swollen when he pushed himself to his feet. Max had really done a number on him. The room was even swaying slightly. He realized with a groan that he might have to ask his father to take him to the hospital. He glanced over at Summer, his eyes going immediately to her bruised wrist. She had sensed his pause because she was looking at him curiously. Well, whatever the cost to himself, he was glad she was okay.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Yes major Luke-centricity here and in the next few chapters. I always thought he deserved more screen time. Might have been cause I thought he was really hot...

Also, some of you may have noticed I upped the rating of this story- if anyone thinks that's going too far let me know, but I thought the above scene was a bit graphic... Attempted rape = not so child friendly

PS I know I've been excellent recently with the mega- fast updates but this weekend I was away sans internet on my computer *insert tears here* and couldn't update. Hope 2 in one day makes up for it (and this is one my longest ever- even before my TMI A/N)

-CW


	15. Sucker Punches

"Man, some serious drama went down at school today!" Seth was practically bouncing with his payload of gossip bottled up inside of him.

"Oh yeah?" Ryan said, barely interested, as he slid into his seat in front of his burger that Seth had gotten him from the diner. With Kirsten and Sandy at some Newport event, the kids were on the own for dinner, and since Ryan was in no condition to be cooking, it was takeout ala Seth. Ryan had been sure to compare him to his mother.

"I saw Summer and Luke at the diner, and Luke had the biggest black eye you've ever seen. I mean like, worse than any of your handiwork!" Seth said.

"Was he okay?" Ryan actually felt slightly worried. Had more kids gone after Luke because of his father? He felt bad that he hadn't had Luke's back, but injured as he was, he probably wouldn't have been much use.

"Yeah, he seemed okay. Summer took credit for it,"

"But you didn't actually believe her?" Anna asked.

"What? No- of course not!" Clearly he had. "I mean… She does have those rage black outs and stuff…"

"No way she gave him that black eye…" Anna shook her head, "Besides, I saw Luke and some other kid being pulled apart in the parking lot."

"Who was the other kid?" Ryan asked, instantly on alert.

"I dunno… Just some jock."

"Luke was fighting with a jock? That's like… Unheard of in the water polo world!"

"It could have been about his dad," Ryan pointed out quietly.

"Oh, right…" Seth said, looking thoughtful.

Ryan doubted that though, it had been the other school's that had turned against Luke. His own teammates, though wary at first, had never gone to any length to actually harm Luke.

"You should call him," Seth said.

"You just want gossip," Anna rolled her eyes, as she bit into her burger. "You can be such a Newpsie…"

Seth gasped theatrically and clutched at his chest, "Anna, your words wound me!"

"Yeah Seth, gossip and take out food- following in your mother's footsteps. What next? Organizing a Casino Night?" Ryan joined in the teasing, but his mind was still thinking about Luke's reported injury.

**************************************************

"Marissa? What the hell are you doing here?" Luke was slightly groggy from the pain killers he had been given at the hospital, but he was still pretty certain his ex- girlfriend was now standing in his bedroom.

"Your mom called my mom who called my dad…" She smiled as if to apologize for the Newport gossip chain, but then her face crinkled in concern, "Are you okay?" She asked, crossing over across the room.

"Yeah, fine. Slight concussion, few bruised ribs, nothing too serious." Luke said, feeling kind of embarrassed that Marissa was seeing him like this. It was bad enough he had totally gotten his butt kicked, now the whole school would know. At least when they had both walked away, Luke's injuries hadn't been readily apparent. "Seriously Mariss- why are you here?"

She shrugged and sat down on his bed uninvited, "I dunno… Thought we were friends. I talked to Summer… She told me what you did for her… And then when your mom called…"

"It was no big deal…" Luke was glad she had talked to Summer, at least that got explanations out of the way.

"Actually Luke… It kind of was." She smiled at him.

"Thanks…" He said, looking away from Marissa's gaze. "I'm sure she'd do the same for me," He joked weakly, wanting to deflect the praise.

"Look, Luke, I know things are kind of… Weird, right now, but I really want us to be able to be friends. All of us."

"You mean Ryan?" Luke said.

Marissa nodded, "Is it too much to ask? I just don't feel like I can…"

Luke held up a hand to stop her, "Marissa, I'm sorry, but I'm really not up for a long conversation about your relationship and it's drama, but I will say this. Ryan doesn't want you as a friend, not right now. On the mountain, you betrayed him, and now, by being friends with Oliver, you're hurting him."

"But Oliver and I-"

"Yeah, just friends, we've all heard you. I'm just saying… You're not the kind of girl who it's easy to be friends with." Luke shifted uncomfortably as he spoke.

"What about us?" She asked.

"We're different… I don't… Feel that way about you anymore, but Ryan does. And while he might trust your intentions, he doesn't trust Oliver."

"Well, that's his problem!" Marissa declared defensively.

"No actually, it's yours." Luke pointed out, "If you really want to be friends."

"Remember when things used to be simple?" She sighed.

"You want to go back to the days of me pulling your hair and stick worms in your lunch box?" Luke smiled.

"So that was you!" She feigned surprise and smacked him lightly with a pillow. Just then, Luke's phone rang. He glanced at it.

"Ryan… Seth must have told him I got my face bashed in…"

"I should go…"

"Yeah, probably." Luke answered and Marissa slipped out. "Hey man," He tried to keep his voice light.

"Hey," Ryan wasn't sure how to proceed, so Luke decided to help him out.

"Did Seth tell you I got my ass kicked?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Ryan said, "I really need to teach how to fight or something."

"I got suckered punch and after that I gave as good I got." Luke promised.

"Why did some guy sucker punch you?" The obvious question, but Luke cringed as he thought about how he was going to answer it.

"I'm sure it's going to be all over the school tomorrow," Luke said, "It was pretty public. Some guy had his hands all over Summer and I didn't like it."

"That's all?" Ryan was a little surprised.

"I might have pulled him out of his car, and told him to get his hands off of her. No mean no, right?"

"So he was…?"

"Yeah," Luke affirmed. "We had to file a police report and stuff. Principal Kim asked me nicely not to come into school tomorrow, but nothing official or anything. I'm still waiting to here my fate."

"That sucks man," Ryan said, "But uh… I think you did the right thing, so uh… Good for you." Ryan was being careful not to mention Summer's name in front of Seth who was trying to eavesdrop on his conversation.

"Yeah man, thanks."

"So I guess I'll see you on Thursday?"

"Yeah man,"

"Alright, well hope it all works out." Ryan said sincerely.

"Yeah, me too." Luke agreed.

Ryan hung up the phone. "So?" Seth pounced on him, "What happened?"

"He got into a fight."

"Yeah, we got that part- but what happened?"

Ryan shrugged, "Sounds like some guy got a little grabby with a girl who wasn't interested, and Luke decided to set the record straight."

"Luke did?" Seth stared, "That seems a little too Dudley-do-right for him."

Ryan shrugged, "Guess people can surprise you."

"Who was the girl?" Anna asked, she had seen Summer hovering nervously near the scene. And earlier that day, Anna was certain she had seen Summer with the guy Luke had tussled with.

"He didn't say." Ryan lied, "But looks like his treatment at the hands of Harbor won't be any more fair than mine.

"At least the system is evenly unfair." Seth pointed out.


	16. Clueless

**A/N: Thanks RJMoonspell14 for all your help on this chapter!**

**

* * *

** "Thanks for coming over Marissa," Summer said, as Marissa and her made the extra bed in Summer's room, "I still don't want to be alone," She shivered slightly. "Dad got called into a surgery… And stepmonster's passed out already."

Marissa hugged her friend, "Of course Summer... I still can't believe Max did that!"

"Yeah I know- God, some guys. It's like the 21st century never happened! They still think of women as total objects! And we still need white knights riding into our rescue. It's infuriating!" Summer tossed a pillow angrily but ineffectively against the wall. Marissa smiled at her friend's outburst. Summer turned to her, her anger subsiding slightly, "Speaking of knights attempting to ride into our rescue... How's Luke?" Summer hadn't spoken to him since they had parted ways at the diner. She felt sorry for herself, that she had even gotten into that situation, but she felt worse about the fact that Luke might have gotten hurt, and he got in trouble. She hoped the honest report she'd given the police might help clear his name…

"He's fine," Marissa assured her, "A little banged up, but he'll be fine. He's glad you're okay."

"Yeah well..." Summer ducked her head, and busied herself arranging a blanket.

"You know... If you like Luke, you should go for it." Marissa said bluntly.

"What?" Summer started, eyes widening, "But I don't like Luke!" She exclaimed emphatically.

"Well, I think he likes you..." That was the conclusion Marissa had come to after she had heard about what Luke had done for Summer. She had never known him to put himself in the line of fire like that. She wished she had thought to ask him while she was there.

"Well, that's his problem..." Summer said as she walked across the room and picked up the pillow she had thrown there, leaning over to cover the slight heat that had risen in her face, "What about you and Oliver?" Summer wanted to change the topic of conversation. She wondered how Marissa even knew about her and Luke. Had Luke said something?

"What about us?" Marissa asked, sighing- why was everyone so convinced there was something going on between them. "We're just friends."

"Okay, then why do you spend like, all your time with him?" Summer pulled a pillowcase over the pillow she had just retrieved and dropped it onto the bed as Marissa sat down on her newly made bed, with a sigh, picking up a stuffed panda that Summer had placed there.

"He just gets me, you know? We've been through a lot of the same stuff. And we have a lot in common," Summer raised an eyebrow, as if she didn't quite believe her, but Marissa just hurried on "And he's a really good listener... It's just... Really easy to be around him .He like, totally understands the rehab thing, too. Ryan just... Well, I think it makes him think too much about his mother, and he won't really talk about it with me. Oliver's totally open about it. Besides, he has a girlfriend."

"Right... the invisible Natalie..." Summer said, rolling her eyes.

"Not you too Summer,"

"Alright... I'll try and keep an open mind, but like, Ryan really needs you right now, you know?"

"Well, if that's the case how come he won't even talk to me! Most of the time he acts like I don't even exist!"

"I think you really hurt his feelings up on the mountain. He's a tough guy but he's still human like everybody else, he's just not big with the emotions, but I think he really wanted you to be there for him, like the way you were with Oliver… He just, doesn't really know how to ask for help…" Summer thought about the way Ryan had at first refused to even tell them he was hurt. He had skied home with them on a broken leg, rather than admitting something was wrong. Summer had decided Ryan had some weird complex about being a burden or something. She felt frustrated with her best friend who didn't seem to understand that Ryan just wasn't the kind of guy who could ask for help- you just had to sort of give it to him. Like Luke had helped Summer today, even though Summer never would have, in a million years, asked him to help.

"I did try to be there for him!" Marissa's eyes flashed angrily, "But he just kept pushing me away! Acting like he didn't want me around, and then he dumped me in front of everyone! He's the one who broke us up!" Marissa exploded, she was tired of everyone telling her she was the bad guy, and Ryan going on with that whole victim act. "Look, just because he got hurt doesn't mean he gets to just sit around and mope and have me jumping and down for him!"

"Yeah Marissa- that's exactly what it should have meant! You had no problem helping out Oliver like that." Summer yelled, her voice rising above Marissa's protests. She took a deep breath before continuing, and lowering her voice back down to normal volume, "Look, I know he tried to act like he didn't need help, but that's just Ryan. You should know that as well as anyone, if not more" Summer levelled a knowing look at Marissa, she loved that girl but she also knew that sometimes she could be a bit self- centred. "Truth was, he was in horrible pain, he couldn't walk. No matter what he might have pretended, truthfully, he could barely move even without cringing. Chino's a tough kid, we all know that we've all seen that, and I'm telling you, he was in a lot of pain. So of course he was kind of grumpy!" Summer was on a roll now, "And maybe if you hadn't left him alone on the mountain when he didn't even know how to ski, none of this would have happened in the first place!"

Marissa was as pale as Summer was red in the face when she had finished her tirade, finally she spoke her voice holding back tears, "I know you've had a really bad day, but that does not give you a right to take it out on me!"

"I'm not! I'm just trying to explain to you why Chino's acting the way he is! He's hurt. That's all! But he's too stubborn to tell you!" She threw her phone at Marissa. "Call him."

"What?" Marissa stared at Summer, eyes bright but tearless.

"Call him from my phone, I'm sure he's talked to Luke by now and he'll probably pick up if it's from me." Summer tried to keep her face blank, as she tried not to think about the conversation that might have occurred between Luke and Ryan.

"Since when have him in and Luke become so tight?" Marissa sniffed.

"Luke was really there for him..."

"Luke just seems to be there for everybody these days..." Marissa grumbled, wondering what had brought on the change when he had never done anything so gallant for her, but she picked up the phone and dialled.

"He's fine Summer... Just call him yourself." As Summer predicted, Ryan picked up, answering before Marissa spoke. His voice sounded tired.

"It's me." Marissa said. Ryan went silent on the other end. "Hello?" She pulled the phone away from her ear to see if he had hung up.

"Yeah... I'm still here." Ryan was silent for a moment, then his brain seemed to register that Marissa had called from Summer's phone, "Where's Summer? Is she okay?" His voice became slightly more urgent.

"Yeah... Summer's fine... She and I... Well, I thought I should call you. And apologize."

"Nothing to apologize for…" Ryan said, hoping to cut the conversation short..

"I know… I know, that I…" She struggled to put it all into words, "I know that I was… That I let you down…" She said, her eyes filling with tears. "On the mountain… I should have been there for you. I should have taken better care of you. I shouldn't have left you… Then maybe none of this would have happened… Maybe you wouldn't have even gotten hurt…"

Ryan could hear the tears in her voice, and his heart softened instantly, "It's not your fault I got hurt…" _It's Oliver's._ He thought to himself. He loved Marissa, he knew that. Marissa, he would forgive. It was only Oliver that he would never, and could never forgive.

"I want to make this right,"

"Okay..." He was wary.

"Let me carry your books tomorrow,"

"My books?" Ryan almost laughed.

"Yeah I mean... On crutches its got to be kind of hard..."

Ryan took a deep a breath and sighed, "What about Oliver?" Oliver tended to follow Marissa like a lost puppy. It was sickening.

"He… I'll talk to him."

"Whatever…" Ryan didn't believe for a second that Marissa would successfully ditch Oliver.

"Great, see you in the morning!"

"Right... See you..." Ryan was less than enthusiastic. As much as he wanted to see Marissa, he wasn't sure he would be able to stand 30 seconds in Oliver's presence without throwing a punch.

"Well?" Summer asked, when Marissa hung up the phone smiling.

"He's going to let me carry his books. If I ditched Oliver…"

Summer looked at her friend, "Do you think…"

"I'm sure Oliver will understand," Marissa said, setting her jaw.

"Right…" Summer was less confidant, but decided not to push the issue. She was tired of this battle. "Chick flick time? Not Clueless though..."

"Sure," Marissa smiled. "Oh hold on a second..." Her phone started to vibrate, "It's Oliver."

Summer rolled her eyes, but just said, "Right, I'm going to get the popcorn." And disappeared from the room. Someone how she didn't think Oliver would be quite so delighted with the news of Marissa and Chino's attempt at reconciliation. But right now, she had enough things to worry about. Like the fact that Luke clearly liked her and even though she had called Ryan twice to get status updates on Luke's condition, even though Ryan was in no shape to be visiting Luke, and there for hadn't seen him, and could only relay whatever information Luke told him. Luckily Marissa had agreed to go and see him, and had dutifully brought back a report. Whatever her relationship with Oliver and Ryan might be, to Summer, Marissa had never been anything but a good friend.

* * *

**A/N: Just a few points of "clarification": **

**The timing of this is during Season 1 (about mid-way) in a very AU, but I will be following the course of certain events like. New Years and stuff, and will try to keep certain things canon (well, as much as I can given my new 'verse here.)**

**Also, I know people have commented on Seth's behaviour, both in this story and its prequel. So why is Seth being such a jerk? I know, he's not always a jerk, but for this story, he is one because well, I remember him as not really "supporting" Ryan during the Oliver- fiasco so I'm sorting using that spin, plus this is still in his "understanding what it is to be a brother" phase. So he's still very self- centred**


	17. Resolutions are never easy

Ryan drummed his fingers anxiously against the kitchen table as he waited for Seth to finish getting ready for school. Somehow, even in a full leg brace, Ryan managed to be quicker in the mornings. He had already drained 2 cups of coffee, and now he sat, tensed and ready for action. Or at least school. It was his third day back, and in an odd way, he was looking foward to it. An unusual sensation that he wasn't expecting, but today Marissa was going to be there. Or, rather, Marissa was going to be there for him.

Or so she claimed she would be, Ryan would have to see it to believe it.

On the downside, Luke wasn't going to be in school, and he was one of Ryan' few companions, aside from Seth, but Seth was a little Anna-occupied, perhaps more so than ever. Ryan wondered if it had something to do with finding out that Summer and Luke had made out. Like he was trying to prove to Summer he didn't need her. Or maybe, Seth had finally figured out which girl he wanted, and it was Anna.

"You look like you're all ready to go," Sandy strolled into the kitchen and caught site of Ryan looking tense and coiled, like a animal about to take down it's prey.

"Huh?" Ryan looked up slightly startled, his mind snapping back to the present. "Oh, yeah. Just waiting for Seth..."

"Well, good luck with that." Sandy chuckled glancing at the clock, "I'd say you have at least fifteen minutes. Do you want another cup of coffee?"

"No thanks. Already had two." Well, that explained why Ryan looked so jittery.

"So how's the leg feeling?" Sandy brought his coffee over to the table and sat down with Ryan.

Ryan looked like he was thinking about bolting, "It's better."

"Good to hear, Kirsten said you were going to be able to start walking on it next week."

Ryan nodded, "Yeah, it'll be good to be able to, you know, walk." He smirked slightly.

"And you're doing okay in school? Catching up okay and everything? Kirsten said you're only doing half- days for now."

"Yeah, but, it's fine. Not bad... I'm not too behind or anything."

"Alright, well, that's good to hear." Sandy looked like there was something else he wanted to say, his mouth opened, and then closed again, and then openend, but Kirsten chose that moment to make her appearance.

"Hey Ryan, how are you feeling?" She asked, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Ryan shrugged, "Same."

"Have you talked to Luke?"

"Not since last night..."

"How was he feeling?"

"A little sore, nothing to major though."

"What happened to Luke?" Sandy asked, suddenly realizing he had missed something.

"He got beat up in the school parking lot. I got at least three calls about it..." She raised an eyebrow, "Somehow this town assumes that if there's a fight, Ryan's somehow involved."

"Good thing I had an alibi," Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Luke got beat up? By who? It wasn't about his father again, was it?"

Kirsten shook her head, "I'm not sure what it was about- there's a lot of different stories. Ryan, do you know?"

Ryan sighed, "Yeah, some guy had his hands all over Summer... Luke didn't like it."

Sandy raised an eyebrow, "Luke and Summer, eh?"

"Yeah, apparently he pulled he kid out of the car, but the guy was practically assaulting poor Summer."

"Is Summer alright?"

"A little shaken up, but she's fine."

"Summer?" Seth had appeared in the kitchen doorway behind them, and from the look on his face he had heard everything. "The fight yesterday was over Summer?" He stared at Ryan in horror, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Seth..." Ryan wasn't sure what to say.

Seth just shook his head, "Whatever man. Dad, can we get a move on it? We're going to be late to school." He was pointedly avoiding looking Ryan in the eye. Ryan sighed. Somehow it seemed just when one issue started to work itself out, another one came up. Life in the O.C. could just be way to complicated.

***Comercial Break***

Oliver was pouting at Marissa as she sat down on the front steps of the school to wait for Ryan that morning. "Why are you doing this again?"

"He's been a good friend to me..."

"Haven't I been a good friend to you too?" He asked, pleadingly.

Marissa smiled, "Of course, but I think Ryan just need some time alone, alright? We need to talk about stuff... You know."

"No, I don't know. I would never exclude you..."

Marissa sighed, he had a good point. It was unfair of her to ask Oliver to go away when it was really Ryan who had the problem, but still, she had resolved to try and make things better with Ryan. "Look, I'm just going to walk him to his class. It's no big deal. Okay?" Her large eyes pleaded with him for understanding, and Oliver knew to back off, or else she'd just get stubborn and annoyed with him, and that was the last thing he wanted.

"Yeah... Whatever..." Oliver said, shrugging his shoulders, "See you later," He turned and walked away but walked only as far as the nearest pillar and then ducked behind it, where he stood to watch Marissa. He watched as the black Range Rover pulled into the school parking lot. Seth jumped out and immediatly started to walk away, as quickly as possible, ignoring Ryan who had hopped out of the car and was now standing, balanced awkwardly on one leg, as he tried to get his crutches situated. Marissa bounced down the steps towards him.

Their greeting was cool, even to Oliver's sharp, jealous eyes. Ryan barely made eye contact with Marissa, and she looked like she was struggling to even manage a smile. Oliver smiled to himself watching them. A morning of this. The akward tension, Ryan's patheticness, she'd come running back to him... It was only a matter of time. Pleased with his assessment, Oliver headed to his class, knowing he would see Marissa there. After all, by a happy coincidence, they both had the exact same class schedule.


	18. Takes Two

"Hey," Marissa stepped toward Ryan uneasily as he got out of the car, and started to make his way towards the school. She felt her stomach tighten uneasily as she noticed how hard it really was for him to walk. How had she missed it earlier? How had she missed an injury this bad?

"Hey," Ryan said, pausing to look at her.

"So uh... I think I agreed to carry your books?" She tried to smile, but the smile came without it's usual brigtness.

"Oh, they're in my locker." Ryan said, picking up the slow pace again.

"Right... So, uh, how's your leg?"

"Better." Ryan said, 'How's uhmm... Your neck?"

"My neck?"

"The car accident?"

"Oh right," That had been weeks ago, the whiplash had long since dissapeared. "It's fine."

"Good." Ryan struggled to smile, but walking and talking were just about all he could handle, and he cast his eyes downward again to watch where he was going. A silence fell. Neither one of them knew what to say. Then both of them spoke at once:

"How's Seth?"

"How's Summer?"

"What? Seth?" Ryan asked, looking confused.

"This morning, when he got out of the car. He looked upset..."

"Oh right, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Okay... And yeah, Summer's fine. A bit shaken up, but she'll be alright. I'm kind of worried about Luke... When I saw him last night, he looked a little roughed up."

"You saw him last night?" Ryan looked at her, confused.

"Uhmm, Did I saw saw? Sorry, I meant called. He sounded a little roughed up when I called..." Marissa blushed when she remembered that she had made her exit when Ryan had called Luke. Ryan glanced at her, like he didn't completely buy her explanation, but didn't make any further issue out of it. "Summer said the fight was pretty bad..." Marissa said quietly.

"I know..." Ryan agreed, "I wish I had been there, not that I would have been much help." He said as an after thought, like for a moment he had forgotten about his broken bones. "We should get to class."

"Right," Marissa said. They fell back into silence as they walked into the school.

The first stop was Ryan's locker, he leaned on his crutches as he told her which books he needed. He had to admit that Marissa was a far better helper than Seth, who usually managed to be more of a hinderance than a help. His job had become "hold the locker door" because that was all he could handle.

As helpful as she tried to be however, an uncomfortable silences still dominated most of their conversation. Beyond the Summer/Luke debacle, they had almost nothing to say to one another, and several pink elephants seemed to follow them as they walked from Ryan's locker to class: Oliver, their impomptu breakup, the last two weeks of non- communication between the two of them, why Marissa had decided to suddenly call him last night. All of it seemed to hover unsaid between the two of them, driving a wedge between them as if to prevent their bonds friendship from re-sealing.

Ryan was almost glad to see her go when he got to class, but she told him that she would be there to pick him up. Ryan almost told her not to bother, except a stab of jealousy whispered to him that if she wasn't with him making awkward conversation, she'd be with Oliver, so he just nodded.

The rest of the morning went without incident, and by the time Ryan and Marissa arrived at third period, together, the elephants seemed to have taken a few steps away from the couple, giving the two of them room to talk more freely.

Mostly of course, they stayed on the relatively safe subject of Luke and Summer. Both marveled at Luke's white knight arrival, fretted about the school's punishment and questioned Summer and Luke's feelings for one another.

Marissa expressed doubt about Luke's good intentions and Ryan expressed doubt about Summer actually liking him. He decided to refrain from mentioning their ski lift kiss, because that could mean actually talking about the time they had spent on the mountain, and Ryan would rather not do that.

As Ryan slid into his seat, and Marissa sat down next to him, Oliver seemed to materialize out of nowhere and sat down on the other side of Marissa. Ryan said nothing, as he opened his notebook.

"Hey Ry- how you feeling buddy?" Oliver leaned over Marissa's desk and leered at him.

"Fine." Ryan was curt.

"I bet- you know Marissa's great at taking care of people when they're injured. You know when I was in that car accident, Marissa was so good about my shoulder. She helped me out so much- I don't know if I could have gotten through it without her." Ryan's hands balled into fists on his desk, scrunching up the fresh peice of paper on his notepad.

"Oliver... Don't please..." Marissa said, looking down at her desk, her face turning crimson. She knew she had screwed up on the mountain, but at the time it ahd seemed like Oliver had needed her more than Ryan had. She knew now that it had been Ryan who really needed her help and attention, but he had been so bristly and pushed her away. She hadn't realized...

"What? I'm just telling Ryan how_ lucky_ he is to have you be there for him."

"Thanks Oliver," Ryan's head snapped up, and he drew his eyes level with Oliver, his jaw tense, "I know."

"Good... Just as long as you know..." Oliver leered.

* * *

"I'm sorry about Oliver in class..." Marissa said as she walked with Ryan out to the parking lot to meet Kirsten.

"It's fine." Ryan said, his teeth clenched.

"I don't know why he does it... I think he just gets jealous you know..."

"Jealous about what?"

Marissa shrugged, "I don't know- I think he's just been left and abandoned so many times by the people in his life that he just gets scared."

"I don't think that's much of an excuse," Ryan said.

"Yeah, I know, but I mean, he always says he really wants all of us to be friends."

"And you believe him? After that bull shit he said in class?"

Marissa eyes changed, "Bullshit? Ryan- maybe I wasn't there for you like I should have been, but I was there for him. He's just pointing that out, and maybe if you hadn't tried so hard to push me away I would have been there for you!"

"Push you away? What the hell are you talking about Marissa? You're the one who left me!"

"Left you? What do you mean left you? I tried to talk to you- I tried to be there for you! But you wanted nothing to do with me! And you know, I wasn't exactly at my best either! I had just been in a car accident!"

"A car you never should have been in!"

"Ryan- what was I supposed to do? You wouldn't even talk to me! I came home from getting hot cocoa- it was supposed to be a 10 minute trip and you were just gone! You didn't even tell me where you were! I was upset and worried and I tried calling you at least three times and you never answered!" Ryan didn't know what to say to that. He was certain he was in the right, but somehow Marissa had him doubting it.

"I'm sorry- when we went to the clinic I kind of had other things on my mind... Like my leg being broken!"

Marissa shook her head, "You act like all of this is my fault- and you know that's really not fair!"

Ryan deflated, "Whatever Marissa..." At that moment the Range Rover came up the school driveway. "I'll see you around."

"Bye..." She said softly, looking away. Neither of them saw Oliver watching them and smiling.


	19. When Men Were Men

"Hey Summer," Seth put his tray down next to Summer at a lunch table.

"What do you want Cohen?" She glared up at him.

"We thought you could use some company," Anna appeared and put her tray down next to Seth's.

Summer looked at the two of them, as they smiled anxiously down at her, "Yeah, fine. Whatever." It seemed like everyone in school was avoiding her today, as if she had some contagious disease and Marissa had been tied up with her whole Ryan thing.

"Are you okay Summer?" Anna asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"Let's see... I almost get raped in the parking lot and now this whole school's acting like it somehow my fault that two of our best water polo got suspended... And everyone's now treating me like I've got the black plague. Yeah, I'm fine." Summer snapped.

"More like the drama plague..." Seth muttered. Anna shot daggers at him with her eyes.

"Hey guys," Oliver and Marissa appeared, and sat down at their table.

"Hey Coop," Summer said, glad to have an excuse not to look at Seth's stupid face anymore. "How'd it go with Ryan?"

Marissa sighed, "Not great..." She picked at her salad with her fork, "We got into a fight..."

"No surprise there..." Seth muttered.

"You- of the unnecessary sidebar- just shut up!" Summer snapped at him, and Seth hunkered down into a sulk. Marissa glanced back and forth between them, but Summer gave a subtle shake of her head and Marissa didn't ask.

"Marissa and I were thinking about going to the mall after school- Summer? Anna? Any interest?" Oliver moved the topic off of Ryan.

Anna shook her head, "Mall? I don't think so..."

"Maybe we could all go to the Crab Shack tonight," Oliver tried again, "Take our minds off things?"

"Yeah... but Ryan can't go..." Seth pointed out.

"No one was inviting you anyway," Summer snapped at him.

"Good! I didn't even want to go!" Summer rolled her eyes.

"You guys... Just stop..." Anna said, holding up her hands She wasn't in the mood for their bickering today. "We should just figure out something we can all do together," Anna suddenly, she tried to keep her voice bright, "With Luke and Ryan..."

"Because things went so well the last time we were all together?" Seth said.

"Oh... Right..." She looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. She always felt on edge in this group. Like somehow she didn't really belong. Except for Seth they all had the air of confidence that comes with being effortlessly cool. Ryan and Luke had it too. She didn't usually care, except she never quite felt comfortable with these guys, and then sometimes when she made an idiot of herself... Go figure Seth would be the one to point it out to everyone... Traitor. "How is Luke? Has anyone talked to him?" She tried to redeem herself, but Seth glowered at her at the mention of his name. What was that about? She sighed and decided to just keep silent for the rest of the meal.

"Luke's okay I think," Marissa said, "I talked to him last night. A little beat up but... He'll be okay."

"When did you talk to him?" Oliver suddenly rounded on Marissa.

"Huh? Last night, before I went over to Summer's," Marissa seemed like the only one who oblivious to the vehemency of Oliver's question. Summer eyed him suspiciously, and edged away slightly. Seth and Anna exchanged a look.

******************************************************

"Hey man," Luke knocked at the pool house door and then let himself in. Ryan put down the textbook he'd be studying and sort of smiled.

"Hey, what's up?" He looked Luke up and down as Luke hobbled over to the nearest arm chair and carefully sat down in it. "Tell me the other guy looks worse than you..." Ryan said, as he watched Luke holding his sore rib cafe with a bandaged hand as he tried to lower himself into the chair. He winced in sympathy.

"Yeah well..." Luke tried to grin, but it was lopsided on his swollen face. "When Kirsten saw me, first thing she said was, 'I know this time it couldn't have been Ryan...'"

Ryan smirked, "Vote of confidence right there... Seriously man, I didn't think it had been that bad."

"Looks worse than it feels," Ryan raised his eyebrow, "Whatever... Summer was in trouble... Someone had to help her out." Ryan shrugged, he could understand that sentiment, "And the dude sucker punched me." He pointed to his face. "I mean, I knew he was kind of ass going after a girl like that... But the guy's obviously a total pussy."

"You might want to keep that thought to yourself- if word got out that you got beaten up by a total pussy?"

"Your a funny man Ryan Atwood..."

"I spend too much time around Seth."

"Probably true, but with this thing," He gestured at his leg, "My choices of companions are seriously limited."

"I dunno... I heard through the grapevine that you had plenty of companionship today."

Ryan shrugged, then looked at Luke, "Where'd you here that from?"

"Marissa..."

"What?"

"She uh... She stopped by to see me last night."

"Ah." Ryan said.

"She didn't tell you?"

Ryan shrugged, "Why would she? That's her business." Both boys were silent for a moment, then Ryan spoke up again, "So, she uh, told you that she was gonna hang out with me today?"

Luke shook his head, "No... She sent me a text today. Said she'd tried being friends with you."

"And I'm guessing she told you that it didn't work out so well?"

"No... She didn't really say anything." Luke lied, actually her text had included the words: _You were right we can't be friends._ Also, there had been a text in the morning too, telling Luke that she was going to attempt a friendship with Ryan. "So it uh... Didn't work out?"

"No..." Ryan sighed, "We got into a fight. That Oliver kid man... Does he freak you out?"

Luke groaned, "Come on man... Look, I understand you don't like the guy. I mean, if I were in your shoes- like when you were stealing Marissa from me, I wouldn't like him either. I'm not saying he's a good guy, I mean he's kind of bastard, but whatever. Marissa likes him, as a friend." Luke added hastily. "So, I don't really think he's going anywhere. Sorry man..."

"Yeah..." Ryan clenched and unclenched his fist. "I wish I could just him you know? You and me... We worked things out... Like men. Oliver's just such a..."

"I know... Hitting him would feel like... Hitting Seth."

"That never stopped you..." Ryan said, not liking the comparison.

Luke grimaced, "Yeah, but Seth fought back, at least verbally, Oliver would take it, smile, and then get you in trouble or something. He's too pussy to fight a real fight. He'd rather just stab you in the back..."

"How does Marissa not see that?"

Luke shrugged, "Sorry man,"

"i just wish... I just wish I could prove to her that Oliver's not a good guy."

Luke shook his head, "Don't waste your time... Guys like that usually get it in the end- but you gotta be patient."


	20. Backlash

**A/N: Before you write any flames about this chapter - please please read my author's note at the end!!!**

* * *

"Luke?" Summer knocked tentatively on Luke's door. His mother had said he might be taking a nap and that he wasn't feeling very good. Her tone made Summer think that perhaps the ex-Mrs. Ward thought this might be all Summer's fault, but still, she wasn't going to let that deter her. She needed to talk to Luke. She needed to tell him...

"Come in..." Luke called out. Luke was in bed, watching some loud action move. He lifted the remote awkwardly with his left hand when Summer came in and turned down the volume. He smiled, "Hey, thought you were my mom... She's been all over me today."

"Yeah..." Summer edged over to the chair at his desk and sat down.

"So... What's up?" Luke asked, his voice bright despite the bruises on his face. Summer felt another pang of guilt.

"I..." She looked down at her hands, twisted them, "I uh... After lunch, Mrs. Kim called me into her office... To talk about yesterday..."

"Okay..." Luke cocked his head, "And...?"

"And... Max's dad was there... With a lawyer..."

"Oh..." Luke sank back against the pillows. He knew the news couldn't be good.

"They said..." Summer sniffed, "They said that if I press charges against Max... They'll press charges against you... For assault."

"What?" Luke stared aghast. "But he hit me first!"

Summer shook her head, "I know- but it doesn't matter. You pulled him out of the car. But..." She took a deep breath, "If I agree to not press charges... then they'll treat the whole thing as a school- contained incident."

"What?"

"You won't get in trouble... Well, not a lot. Today was like an unofficial suspension. They'll call it absence, and let both you and Max off with a warning. And it'll be like nothing happened..."

"I don't believe this!" Luke clenched his fists, then grunted as his bad wrist spasmed painfully. "He attacked you! Tried to..." He stared at Summer uncomprehending. "And you want to drop the charges?"

"I just don't want you to get in trouble!"

"Summer- that's not the point!"

"Luke..." Summer's voice was soft, Luke had to strain to hear it, "If I go to court... And lose... Do you know what will happen?"

"No, what?" Luke scoffed, "You'll become unpopular? You'll lose your street cred? You'll lsose your diginity?"

Summer's eyes sudden sparked with anger, "You think I want to do this? You think I want to watch the jerk walk away because his daddy bought him out of trouble? I'm doing what's best- for both of us! You don't get into trouble and I don't get made a fool of in a court room. Max will never be found guilty. I know that..."

"You mean his lawyer convinced you of that..."

Summer shook her head, "It wasn't just his laywer... I talked to Dr. Kim. She said the same thing... And that she was sorry. It was out of her hands."

"So will Max even be punished?"

"Same as you... In school suspension... Probation."

"I don't believe this..." Luke huffed, "Summer- I can't believe you think this is okay!"

"Of course I don't!" Tears spilled from her eyes without warning, "Of course I'd rather see Max get exactly what he deserves! You think I want to just walk away like nothing happened? I don't! But I don't have a choice. I'm already a social pariah at the school... If I take Max to court? I'll be ruined! It'll be three years of being hated by everyone! I don't know about you Luke- but I sort of like being popular and no, I'm not afraid to admit it. Do you want to spend the rest of your days at Harbour as the new Seth Cohen?"

"That was harsh..." Luke muttered.

"Whatever," Summer snapped, "Look, I'm try to practical."

"Yeah..." Luke sighed. She was right. The whole deal would get him off the hook. "You're not doing this to try and keep me out of trouble are you? Because I can fight my own battles."

"What? No! I just... Look, nothing really happened right? I mean... He tried, but you stopped him so I mean, the only damage that was done was done to your face..." She smiled sideways at him, a little sadly, a little wistfully, "I just think it's better if we put this behind us- you know?"

"Yeah," Luke nodded, he understood. Even if it wasn't fair... Or right... The world was spinning of its axis and this would put everything right. Solve all their problems. They just had to pretend nothing had happened. He looked at Summer. She looked at him. Her eyes were dark and sad. "Are you sure?" He asked.

"No..." She whispered, "But I think it's really for the best."

Luke nodded, "Well, it's up to you, you know. I'll back you up, whatever you decide to do."

"Thanks... That means a lot." She stood, "So I'll uh... See you in school tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Luke nodded, "Guess I need to report for my in school suspension. Hey Summer- can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah, sure?" Her forehead wrinkled.

"Can you just tell me that guys like that get it in the end?"

"Uh... Guys like that get it in the end?"

"Thanks... Just needed a reminder..." Luke closed his eyes, and willed Max dead with his mind.

* * *

**A/N: So I realize that by writing this I might have just pissed a lot of you off. No one (male or female) should EVER be told to not press charges for sexual assualt, but well, it happens. And when people have come foward- they're met with criticism and doubts about their own moral character. So please remember, this is a work of fiction and does NOT in any way reflect my own beliefs about what someone should do in that situation... **


	21. Fight the Good Fight

"Hey man, didn't expect to see you back so soon," Ryan let go of a crutch to wave with one hand at Luke who had arrived at school at almost the same time as Ryan and Seth. Seth glowered at them both and then pushed up past them and into the school.

"What's his problem?" Luke asked.

"Who knows," Ryan shrugged and started to limp towards the school. He decided Luke had enough on his mind without worrying about Seth's petty jealousy. "How are you feeling?"

Luke shrugged and then rolled his muscular shoulders, "A little sore, but not too bad."

"Face looks pretty good," Ryan smirked, it was still black and blue.

"Yeah well, I'm just hoping I look better than the other guy."

"So what's going on with that? Are you in trouble?"

"Nah, not really."

"So you're allowed to go around practicing vigilante justice now? Nice- mind taking out Oliver for me?"

"Err..." Luke hesistated, "Not quite, I'm just not really in trouble for this..."

"Right..." Ryan looked away, and Luke realized he probably thought that he had bought his way out of trouble.

"They kinda..." Luke swallowed, "Ryan, look, don't tell anyone but... I'm basically not getting intro trouble because Summer's keeping her mouth shut about what happened."

"And you're okay with that?"

"No..." Luke squirmed uncomfortably, "But believe it or not, that's what Summer wanted."

"Huh? I have a hard time believing she'd be okay with that..."

"Yeah I know... But this way, the whole thing just sort of goes away..."

"Goes away? What? How?" Why had Ryan never been offered a plea bargain deal like that? And why did Luke always seem to get off scot free no matter what kind of trouble he got into?

"Look... Promise you won't say anything?"

"Yeah, sure," Ryan was good at keeping secrets.

"Summer was afraid that if she went to court and lost she'd become totally unpopular. Even if she went to court and won she might become a complete social outcast."

"She's keeping her mouth shut because she wants to be popular?" Ryan stared at Luke and disbelief.

"And to protect me..." He muttered, slightly ashamed.

"What do you mean?"

"If she took Max to court... His dad was going to sue me. We'd be in court rooms long after we graduated from this stupid place. It just... Isn't worth it."

"Isn't worth it? But she was almost-"

Luke cut him off, "Almost, but he didn't... This way the whole thing just goes away."

Ryan started to nod, and then he saw Marissa walk by with Oliver. She didn't see Luke and Ryan who stood down at the bottom of the steps, "You can't just ignore these things and hope they go away you know." He growled, "You have to stand up and fight..." His eyes were fixated on Marissa who was smiling as she sat down on a makeshift seat on the wall. Luke followed his stare,

"You're one to talk... You only have one leg to even stand on... And I'm not willing to risk that much if I'm not even sure it's worth it." Summer had been standing nearby, and overheard the last part of the conversation. Not even worth it? So that was what Luke thought of her? She turned around and fled, before she was forced to hear another word. "I mean, if Summer was willing to fight for it, then of course I'd go for it, but she's so afraid of risking her popularity... I wanna do whatever she thinks is best... And it's not worth it to put up a fight if she won't keep up her end of the bargain."

************************************

"Summer?" An all too familiar and unwelcome male voice asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Seth, go away." Summer hastily wiped the tears off her face.

"Yeah... Sure you are..." He muttered, bouncing uneasily from one foot to the other as if debating whether or not he should obey her. "You know... I really am sorry about Max... It really sucks that he did that..."

"Thanks..." Her head was still turned away from him.

"Are you sure you're-"

"I said I was fine!" She snapped.

"Right..." He turned and started to walk away but Summer grabbed his sleeve.

"Can you...?" She turned her tearstained face to his. "Can you wait with me... For a minute?"

"Yeah, of course Summer," As if he would have ever said no. "Okay, I know this is like the third time I asked, but I'm going to give it one more try- Are you sure you're okay?"

Summer shook her head, "No, not really."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Seth asked, slightly ill-at-ease, feelings, particularly of the female variaty were not his strong suit.

"Did you... Not stand up for something because you were afraid of what would happen?"

"Me? Summer, that's not even a fair question. Ryan's the one who stands up for stuff... Me... I'm a lover not a fighter." His cheeks burned with a temporary moment of shame as he thought about all the times Ryan had stood up for him and he had done nothing. Okay- this wasn't about him, later there would be time to pick this realization apart and do something about it...

"Right..." Summer was saying, "Okay... But I meant like... Never mind... Do I look okay?"

"Huh?"

"My face- does it look like I've been crying."

"Uhmm... Sorta..."

"Great..."

"Wet papertowel,"

"Huh?"

"Wet a paper towel with cold water and hold it over your eyes... Or just tell everyone you have allergies."

"Seth, has anyone ever told you that you are kind of a girl sometimes?"

"Thanks Summer, next time I won't offer you my words of wisdom."

Summer managed a small smile, "Thanks Seth,"

"Anytime... Look, Summer, is this about the whole Max thing?"

"Yeah, kinda..." She admitted.

"If you need to talk... I'm here."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it, but... For right now, I'm just going to pretend everything's fine."

"Really?"

"Yes really Seth, it just makes life too complicated to try and fight every stupid little battle,"

"You know, that's what I said the first time a kid bullied me, in like kindergarten."

"What's your point Cohen? You still get bullied."

"Exactly, nothing's changed, because I didn't think it was worth it to fight."

"What if fighting meant that someone else got hurt? What if you could fight it now but like, it would hurt Ryan or Anna?"

"Well, my not fighting and just letting kids bully me all the time almost did get Ryan hurt. Remember the beach party? The where you hit on- Oh never mind. Anyway, I'm just saying, letting people push you around is a great way to survive, but not if it makes you miserable. Until Ryan came along and started fighting my battles for me, I hated this place. I hated this school, and I had no friends."

"Thanks for the invite to the Seth pity party,"

"No, Summer... Look, all I'm saying is, sometimes it's worth it to fight. Even if it makes things messy..."

Summer looked up at Seth and smiled, "Wow, I really didn't think you were capable of being that deep..."

"Yeah, I surprised even myself with that little pep-talk there. It was pretty good though, wasn't it?"

Summer nodded, "Yeah not bad, I'd say like a seven out of ten."

"Only a seven? That seems a little harsh."

"Fine, an eight then."

"So, does this mean your going to go fight the good fight?"

Summer sighed, "No,"

"No? What? Really? After my whole speech? What if I'd done while riding back and forth on Captain Oats?"

Summer giggled, "Might have helped a little... But no, that's not why."

"Then why?"

"Honestly... I just want to move on from it and forget about it. I know that's what Luke wants... Luke doesn't think it's worth it at all."

"What?"

"Never mind..."

"Should I go beat Luke up for you?"

Summer shook her head, "Like you said, he's totally not worth it."

"I know, but he's all injured and pathetic. I might have a chance for once!"

"He'd still kick your butt,"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Summer," The bell rang.

"I should uh... Get to class."

"Yeah, me too. See you at lunch?"

"Uhmm... I was going to sit with Hailey and all them,"

"Oh right, well, see you around."

"Right, see you. Oh Seth- do I look okay?"

"Yeah, you look fine."

"Thanks."

"Anytime," Seth said, mostly to himself as he watched Summer walk away, "Anytime."


	22. A Real White Knight

Seth wasn't thinking. At least not clearly, as he neared Luke's broad back and raised his hands there was only one thought in his head, "He might not be worth it... But she is!" As his hands neared Luke's muscular shoulders he had only seconds to rethink his decision before he shoved Luke hard. Luke's broad frame barely budged, but he turned around looking angry, but when he saw Seth, his hands raised in loosely gripped fists that hovered near his face, he went from looking angry to looking confused.

"Uhm... Hi Seth?" He asked, "What's up man?"

"Shut up, I'm going to fight you."

Luke, surrounded by a pack of water polo players, started to laugh. The other guys joined in. Seth suddenly realized that he was seriously out- numbered. "You? Are going to fight me? Over what?"

"Oh- I think you know what." Seth bounced back and forth from what foot to the other, in what he hoped was a good impression of a professional boxer, but apparently the guys watching didn't think so.

"Aww, look the wittle fairy!" They jeered at him. Seth flushed but only gripped more tightly, he wasn't going to back down. Not from this fight.

"Seth... I really don't want to fight you..." Luke said softly.

"Oh yeah, well too bad,"

"Seth, you're humiliating yourself," Luke kept his voice low, he didn't want his friends to hear him trying to talk some nerd out of hitting him. His friends were eager for an unfair fight, "You don't have to do this. Where's Ryan?"

"This is about Ryan! This about you! And me!"

"Seth, I really don't want to hit you..." Luke gave him one more warning. Eventually he was going to have to swing. How bad would it look to his friends if he didn't swing at the skinny little nerd? He swore that he wouldn't hit him hard. He'd aim for his arm. Give him a dead arm maybe. Nothing worse. He couldn't afford to take another hit on his already damaged rep.

"Luke? Seth?" Marissa's voice interrupted both of them. Seth froze instantly and Luke let out a sigh of relief. Maybe Marissa could talk some sense into Seth.

"Hey Marissa, just give me one second to knock this jerk out-" Seth resumed his boxing-dance. Luke shook his head and sighed.

"He wants to fight me," Luke explained.

"Oh... Right..." Marissa said, as if this was perfectly reasonable, "I don't really blame him." Luke rolled his eyes at her.

"Not now... Seriously Marissa, can you like get Ryan over here or something?"

"Cohen?" Summer came up behind Marissa. "What are you doing?"

"I'm fighting Luke- for your honor."

"Cohen!" Summer bellowed, and grabbed him by one arm and dragged him away from the crowd that booed.

"Saved by a girl, huh Danes?"

"Lay off it Mark..." Luke growled, and he stormed off, still wondering what had just happened.

******************************************

"Why'd you stop me? I was about to fight for your honor!" Seth complained as Summer stood in front of him, hands on her hips.

"My honor? What are you talking about Cohen?"

"Well, you said that Luke said that he didn't think you were worth protecting... But I wanted you to know that you were. I'd fight for you Summer... Every time. Even if I knew I was gonna lose."

The expression on Summer's face instantly softened, "You would do that for me Cohen?"

"Of course Summer..." Without thinking, Summer flung her arms around Seth and hugged him hard.

"Thanks Cohen,"

"You're welcome..." He blushed. He had forgotten the warmth of Summer's hug. The smell of her hair when she was close...

Part of way down the hall, unobserved, Anna watched the two of them, and felt her resolve strengthen.

**********************************************

"I swear to God, no matter what you hear, I was not about to punch Seth." Luke slid into the seat next to Ryan in their classroom. Ryan looked at him blankly.

"Huh?"

"He tried to fight me,"

"Really?" Ryan cracked a smile at the idea.

"Yeah..."

"What did you do to him?"

"What? Nothing! I have no idea! He just came up to me and told me he was gonna hit me."

"Really?" Ryan was still smirking at the image.

"It's not funny man... He could have gotten hurt!"

"Luke..."

"Alright, alright, and I was worried if I hit him I would get suspended for real this time." Luke admitted.

"But he didn't hit you?"

"No..."

"So what stopped him? Aside from his general aversion to pain."

"Summer."

"Ah, so... Was it about Summer?"

"I dunno... Why would it be?"

Ryan shrugged, "You're asking the wrong guy, two third's of the time I have no idea what's going on in that kid's head. But... You and Summer have been sort of close, and he's not the most reasonable guy when it comes to things like jealousy."

"Whatever... Just remember, I didn't hit him."

"Right, well, I'm sure when he gets over whatever's gotten into him, he'll appreciate it."

"Hey guys," Taylor Townsend came along and slid into the seat next to Ryan, a big smile on her face.

"Uhmm... Hey Taylor?" Luke and Ryan exchanged a glance.

"So Luke, I heard you almost had another throw down in the hallway. Ryan, I'm glad your brother's okay."

"Uhmm..." The boys looked back and forth from one another.

"What was it about anyway?"

"You got us," Ryan shrugged, "Ask Seth if your so curious."

"Well, I mean, it's gotta be about a girl right? I mean, why would one guy challenge another guy like otherwise? I mean, it was pretty much like watching two rhinos fight over a female. Very animal planet. And since it's probably a girl, it must be about Summer right? I mean, unless there's another girl." She slid her eyes back and forth from Ryan and Luke and then nodded, pleased with her own assessment. "As I thought, a girl, Summer more specifically. And, given what went on, on Monday... I'd say this has something to do with that. Well, any thoughts? Theories?" She looked at them like a teacher looking at a roomful of students. "Fine, then here's one. Rumor has it that the whole thing is being swept under the rug. I'm guessing Summer's _real_ white knight- no, not you Luke, thinks she deserves better than that." She sighed, "it's actually kind of romantic." Luke and Ryan glanced at one another. Actually it was a good theory.

"Yeah, maybe." Ryan shrugged.

Just then the teacher walked in and ordered them all to take out their books and stop chatting.

After class, Ryan was getting to his feet when Taylor turned around to face him again, "Hey..." Her voice wasn't as brash this time, she sounded a little more uncertain. "Do you need help carrying your books to your next class?"

"Huh?" He looked around, up at Luke who just shrugged at him and thought about his shoulders that were starting to hurt. "Uhmm... Yeah, sure... I mean... if you want..." Her face broke into a bright smile, and she jumped up and scooped his books off the desk. Luke smirked as Ryan clambored to his feet and had to move quickly to keep up with her as she practically bolted towards the door. Clutching the books to her chest like some sort of prized posssession.


	23. A Helping Hand

"Well, uh, thanks Taylor," Ryan said when they reached his classroom.

"Yeah, uhmm, no problem..."

"So I kinda... Need my..." He gestured to her hands.

"Oh right," She started to hand them over. There was an awkward moment as Ryan tried to take them, but he couldn't carry them and stay upright on his crutches. "Go in... I'll follow." Taylor suggested after a few moments of fumbling.

"Okay, thanks." He said, and he limped into the classroom. Marissa and Oliver were already in their seats. He accidently caught their eyes. Marissa smiled timidly at him. Oliver glowered.

"Here." Taylor dropped the books uncerimoniously onto his desk.

"Thanks..." He said.

"Yeah, uhmm... Same time tomorrow?"

"Uh..." Ryan wasn't sure what to say.

"I mean, we figured out the system. And it's obvious to me that you could use the help so, even though I know you would never ask me. And I mean, I'm happy to help out so you don't even have to ask, I just meant..."

"It's fine. Same time tomorrow." Ryan agreed hastily, partially just to stem the flow of babble.

"Awesome." Taylor grinned. "See you tomorrow." And then she skipped off. He glanced around to see if Marissa was looking. She was. Oliver was talking to her but she was ignoring him, instead her eyes were on Ryan. And she looked... Jealous. Ryan couldn't help turning around and smiling a little smugly to himself.

* * *

A/N: I know, I'm sorry. I only seem to have short chapters in me today. It was a lonnng weekend (in a good way) but my brain is still catching up.

-CW


	24. The Atwood Guide to Apologies

"Hey Seth, what brings you by my office-?" Sandy looked up and smiled at his son who had unexpectedly appeared. Then he noticed the two girls trailing behind him- "Summer, Marissa, always a pleasure." He did his best to hide his surprise and vague twinge of concern. Had something happened to Ryan? Why hadn't they called him? "So, what's up, everything okay?"

"Uhmm..." Seth glanced at Summer then back at his father, "I think Summer wants to talk to you."

"Summer?" Sandy tried not to sound too surprised. Summer looked down at the floor.

"Uh... Seth thought that because you're a lawyer... Maybe you'd have some advice for me."

"Okay, shoot." Sandy leaned back in his chair. His immediate anxiety had lifted. His sons at least were fine.

"Well, I... There was an incident at the school. Luke was in a fight-"

"Ah yes, the bruises that Ryan was happy to tell us he didn't cause. Please, Summer, take a seat."

"Yes, well... Uhmm thanks..." Summer paused, "The guy... He was... well, Luke was kind of uhmm... Well, I was in this car with this guy and things were getting kind out of-" She looked around, Seth was staring at her intently. Too intently. Sandy looked at him. Hard. Seth seemed to get the memo.

"Who wants a soda? I'm going to get a soda. Anyone else want one? Anyone?" He backed towards the door, "No? Well, okay. I'm going to find a soda. Good bye." He backed out the door. It slammed behind him.

Sandy looked up and eyed Marissa next. If Summer wanted her best friend there, that was great, but Sandy felt like he knew there might be some tough questions coming, questions that Summer might feel my comfortable answering if she were alone...

"You know what?" Marissa said, "I think I might want a soda... I'm going to go with him." Summer looked at her and smiled gratefully. Sandy also smiled. It made the client-lawyer confidentiality thing a lot easier. Marissa stood gracefully and went to the door, closing it gently with a click behind her.

"Alright Summer," Sandy said, "I need to know everything that happened.

As Summer told the story to Sandy who met her eye and looked at her intently, Summer finally find herself starting to feel better. Better than she had since. Better than she had looked at Luke and seen the bruises. Better than she had since she had learned of her choice. Better than she had since the blackmail.

Seth had been right. There was more than one way to fight. Once Seth realized that fighting wasn't his strong suit of course... And maybe now it was time to fight fire with fire. Instead of fists.

*******************************

Kirsten glanced over at Ryan who sat next to her in the car. He looked pale and tired. Physical therapy had apparently been rather exhausting for him today as Pat had taken away his crutches and insisted on him walking and doing leg lifts.

"How does your knee feel?" Kirsten asked.

"Fine."

"Does it hurt?"

He shook his head, "No, Pat's good, I think. I'm just..."

"Tired?" Kirsten suggested.

"No, more like drained." Ryan admitted. "And kind of frustrated, I just feel like I should be further along or something you know?"

"Well, Pat said you're doing great. You just need to give yourself time. Your body needs to heal, but she said you were able to bend your knee- that's good news."

"Yeah, thirty whole degrees..." Ryan said with a sigh, as he turned away from Kirsten and looked out the window.

"You'll get there Ryan, don't worry." She patted his leg reassuringly. "Hey, I have an idea, why don't we go suprise Sandy at the office and then Seth at home and then all go out for pizza? Maybe a movie?"

"Isn't a school night?" Ryan asked, he looked at Kirsten surprised.

"Well, one school night won't kill you. And you got all your work done right?" Ryan nodded, "Well, then let's go celebrate your thirty degrees." Maybe if the family celebrated his small success he would feel better about it.

Ryan nodded, "Alright,"

"Let's just go in and surprise him," Kirsten suggested with a mischevious grin. They were nearby his office anyway, so they were there fairly quickly. Kirsten started to get out of the car, but Ryan stopped her.

"Let me, I kinda, wanna try this whole walking thing." He said with a shy smile.

"Go for it," Kirsten smiled brightly, glad that Ryan was feeling up to the task. He hopped out of the car and limped into the building. Kirsten winced as she watched him, but he walked with an air of determination and made it there in a much shorter time than he would have on crutches.

***********************************************

"Do you think Summer would prefer an orange fanta or a diet coke?" Seth was standing near the snack machines.

"Seth... Can I ask you something?"

"Uh, yeah sure." Seth said, still weighing the two options in his hands.

"What are you doing?"

"Huh?"

"With Summer- I mean, fighting Luke? Now this... Come on, it's gotta mean something."

"Well, I...." Seth was caught of guard. He hadn't expected this from Marissa. Instead of getting defensive, he went on the attack, "Me? What about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you and Ryan."

"There is no me and Ryan..." Marissa said, her voice a little sad. "We're just friends... Or something..." She knew "friends" was a stretch but...

"Well, there's no Summer and me either." Seth said, "We're just friends. Like you said." He shrugged his shoulder. Then looked up, over his shoulder. Someone had just come in through the main doors. The light was behind them and Seth couldn't make out the face, but they were walking with an obvious limp, like they had one knee that didn't bend- "Hey Ryan!" Seth called out excitedly. "What are you doing here man?"

"Seth?" Ryan looked at him confused and continued to limp towards them, "Marissa?"

"Dude! You're not on crutches!" Seth said excitedly.

"Uhmm... yeah, new thing." He looked back and forth between Marissa and Seth, "I was just... Dinner. Inviting. Sandy." He stuttered slightly. "What are you-?"

"Oh, Summer and Sandy are talking."

"About?" He looked at Seth, Seth just raised his eyebrows and comprehension dawned on Ryan's face. "Oh right."

He turned and looked at Marissa, "I'm just here for moral support." She said quickly.

"Cause you're soo good at that..." Ryan muttered under his breath.

"What?" She stared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh come on Marissa- like you don't..." Seth started.

"Seth..." Ryan cut him off.

"Right sorry dude. I'm going to go offer Summer her choice of refreshing beverages. I'll be right back..." Seth dissappeared.

Ryan sighed deeply, "Sorry, I didn't mean anything."

"I think you did." Marissa crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Yeah, well, maybe I did." Ryan said. He felt braver now that he could stand (sort of) on his own two feet.

"You know Ryan- you were the one that pushed me away."

Ryan was about to argue with her and then he stopped and looked at her a moment, something his brother had once said. Theresa had been there. He remembered her laughing. _"A woman always has to be right. You want to win a fight? You gotta let them think they've won." _

"You're right, I'm sorry." It hurt a little to say the words. She wasn't right, he was sure of it. But he was tired of arguing.

"What?" Marissa stared at him. "Did you just say-"

"You're right. I'm sorry."

"Oh... Uhmm.. Okay... And uhh, I think you were right too. I should have tried harder or something... Been more understanding."

"Yeah," Ryan said, "That would have been... nice. I've... I've missed you."

"Yeah, you too." Marissa smiled that brilliant smile. "When I saw you with Taylor... Even though I knew there was nothing I felt... Well, I guess what you must sort of feel when you see me with Oliver. I uh... Kind of understood."

"Okay,"

"Look, Oliver's having this party on Saturday..."

"Oliver's having a party?"

"Look, him and I aren't together. And Natalie's going to be there. So if you came as my date..."

"Right..."

"Think about it?"

"Yeah sure," Ryan nodded. "I'll uh.. Think about it."

Just then Seth, Summer and Sandy came up and joined them. Summer looked a little drained but she smiled convincingly enough. "So what's this about pizza?" Sandy asked.

"Well, Kirsten wanted to know if Seth and you wanted to get pizza... I'm thinking she might be kind of wondering..."

"Why don't we all go?" Seth suggested. Ryan and Marissa glanced at one another and exchanged small smiles. Summer saw them. So did Seth. Then they both glanced at one another, and exchanged their own secret smiles.

"Oh there you are!" A voice called out. Kirsten came down the hall- "Ryan, you never reappeared, I got worried!"

"Don't worry Kirsten's everything's fine." Sandy said clapping Ryan on the shoulder. "Hey kid! No crutches!"

"Yeah Dad, that's why we're going to pizza to celebrate."

"Oh right, right." Sandy grinned. "Well, let's get this show on the road." Kirsten rolled her eyes but smiled as they sheparded the four kids out the cars.


	25. Party Plans

"Ryan, are you sure you're up to this?" Kirsten asked as she hovered in the pool house doorway and watched Ryan fasten the velcro on his large knee brace.

"Yeah, I'm good." He said, he smiled reassuringly.

"Alright..." She hesitated.

"I promise, it's going to be fine." He got to his feet, and limped towards Kirsten.

"I know," Kirsten smiled at him. "Or else I wouldn't be letting you go."

****************************

"You know, you should try breaking your leg more often if it means Mom and Dad letting us go to parties without a fuss." Seth said as they climbed into the car.

Ryan made a face at him, "Yeah, six weeks of being unable to walk, six weeks of physical therapy, and a leg brace for ten? All to get permission to go to one party? Oh yeah, totally worth it."

"What about the part where you're Marissa's date?" Ryan turned and looked at Seth with a mild expression of annoyance, "Would have been better if you hadn't needed the broken leg to get it?"

"Something like that." He sighed, "What if this is a mistake?"

"Hey man, if you don't want to go."

"We're going."

"Okay..." Seth said, and started the engine.

***********************************

Marissa turned her head and examined her updo closely and inspected her makeup. "You look fine, stop worrying." Summer told her. "So tell me, who are you more worried about impressing- Ryan or Oliver?" She cocked an eyebrow at Marissa.

"I already told you, Natalie's going to be there. Besides, it's not like that between Oliver and me. We're just friends."

"So you keep saying."

"Because it's true!" Marissa insisted.

"Uh huh..."

"Sum! Come on- he has a girlfriend."

"But who's even seen her? And if he didn't have a girlfriend? What then?"

"Then we'd still just be friends."

"I don't understand. If you care about Ryan so much... Then why..."

"Why what?"

"Nothing... Never mind." There were certain places where Summer just wouldn't go with the girl she called her best friend. Summer knew that sometimes Marissa just wasn't interested in her opinion, and she wasn't going to start a fight over it. Particularly when Marissa seemed... Happy. And even slightly relieved. Summer understood that Marissa liked Ryan a lot. She just had trouble sometimes, expressing her emotions. And so did Ryan. A relationship between them would probably always be troubled until they learned to trust one another, and that could take some time...

********************************

Anna sighed as she moved a bang into a better position. She wasn't even sure she wanted to go to the party, but Seth was going. And so was Summer. And she'd be damned if she left the two of them at the party together. Especially with Seth's recent extra- curricular activities. She hadn't complained of course. Summer had needed him. She understood that. Seth was just being a good guy. She just wished the girl involved hadn't been Summer.


	26. The Words We Must Say

**A/N: Finally we head into the final stretch(es)... **

* * *

"His house is huge." Ryan said, when they pulled up in front.

"I know, even by Newport standards..." Seth agreed.

"You know what, let's just forget about it." Ryan sighed.

"No way dude, we made it all the way here and there is probably a kick ass party waiting for us inside those doors."

"It's Oliver's party, how kick ass do you think it can be?" Ryan asked tiredly.

"Okay, point taken, it will probably be lame beyond all belief, because Oliver is totally lame, but Marissa will be there, and you're not here for a page 6 spread, you're here to win back Marissa."

"Wow Seth- that was some pep-talk, have you been practicing?"

"Only three times in front of a mirror." Luke's car pulled in next to him.

"Didn't know he was coming..." Seth shrank back slightly in his seat as Luke gave them both a half- hearted wave. "Maybe you're right about this party being totally lame."

"C'mon Seth," Ryan said, as he opened the car door and slid to the ground.

"What? I don't get a pep- talk?"

"You don't need one. Where's Anna by the way?"

"Oh she said she had some stuff to take care of, and she'd meet us here." Seth climbed out of the car.

*****************************************

"So where's Natalie?" Marissa slinked towards Oliver, holding an almost empty glass that had been filled with some sort of vodka concotion.

Oliver's face fell slightly, "She couldn't make it. Something came up at the last minute."

"Oh, that's too bad." Marissa said, as she finished off her drink.

"Marissa! There you are!" Summer found her friend and wrapped her arm around her waist, "Come on, some people just came you should say hi to!" Marissa shrugged her shoulders half- heartedly at Oliver as Summer dragged her away.

Oliver glanced around, he hadn't spotted Ryan yet, that was good. Maybe that jerk wouldn't even show his face.

******************************************

"Wait, I wan' another drink." Marissa pulled away from her friend and towards the well- stocked bar where she poured herself a screwdriver that was far more vodka than orange juice. Summer just sighed. She knew her friend was anxious about her possible reconciliation with Ryan, but there would be no such reconciling if she was passed out by the time he got here.

"Pace yourself Marissa," She warned her friend gently, "It's still pretty early." Marissa shrugged her bare shoulders and took a long drink.

*******************************************

Ryan spotted Marissa almost instantly. She was standing near the bar, elegant fingers and long painted curled delicately around a glass, her head tossed back, revealing her slender neck, her hair cascading down her back. Her lips were pressed to the glass. Ryan found himself almost trembling with desire for her as he watched her take a drink. How he long to hold her warm body in his arms, to kiss her lips, to trace his fingers across the curve of her delicate collarbone and through her soft hair.

She put the glass down as he approached her, and smiled at him, her blue eyes twinkling mischeviously as she danced toward him.

"Hey Ryan," She threw her hands around his neck, "I've been waiting for you." She moved in to kiss him but he moved his head away slightly. She was obviously drunk, he could smell the sting of liquor on her breath. He wanted her, only God knew how much he wanted her, but not like this. He wanted real Marissa. Not this Marissa, with her eyes that sparkled a little too brightly, her cheeks that were slightly flushed, and that glance she threw towards Oliver- the one that said she wanted Oliver to watch. She was playing games, and Ryan was not in the mood.

He gently unclasped her fingers from around his neck, and put his arm around her waist protectively. She took another drink from her glass. He could smell how strong it was. Her body leaned against his, and he had to ignore his knee's pang of painful protest as he took on more weight than just his own. "Maybe you've had enough." He whispered softly.

She giggled, "Maybe."

"Why don't we sit down?" He suggested, guiding her towards a couch.

"Okay," She turned and started to nuzzle his neck.

"Keep an eye on her Ryan," Summer warned him before she walked away. She didn't need to see the two of them get all gushy with one another.

"What's going on Summer?" Luke asked, she could tell he was trying to sound non- chalant as he took another sip of beer. His face was still tinged with the yellow stains of fading bruises. She felt an odd stab of guilt. She and Luke hadn't even made eye contact since she had dragged Cohen away from fighting him. She wasn't even sure what to say to him.

She was pretty sure she was mad at him. After all, he said she wasn't worth fighting for, but then again, he had fought for her honor and still wore the battle scars.

She decided to follow his lead, "Nothing Luke, what's up with you?"

"Nothing." He said, spreading his hands wide.

"Good."

"Yeah. Good for you too." There was another moment of silence, "So... Does this mean..?"

Summer sighed, "Let's just pretend like nothing ever happened."

"Sounds good to me," Luke agreed, but his eyes still look concerned and was she imagining it- or did they look a little hurt?

"I need to go... Need to..."

"Right. See you around." Luke waved her away.

"Right, bye." And then she fled.

**************************************

"I can't believe this place!" Anna said, as she and Seth walked around in the backyard, taking in the view of the mansion.

"I know, it's amazing." Seth agreed.

"Seth... There's something I have to tell you..."

He turned and faced her, "What? You don't really like graphic novels? It's you or Captain Oats?" He grinned at her.

"No," She smiled slightly, "I'm being serious."

"Oh." Seth's smile slid off his face.

"Yeah... I'm..." She took a deep breath, "I'm moving."

"What? Where? Why?"

"I dunno... I just don't feel comfortable here. I thought it would get better but it really hasn't. So I'm moving back with my aunt. I miss my friends... I miss my school... I miss my old life. I just, don't fit in here."

"Well neither do I!" Seth protested, "I really don't fit in around here! Never have! You're the one person here who's the most like me! What am I supposed to do without you."

Anna fidgeted and looked away, she glanced up toward the house. "You're family's here, you're friends are here."

"Just Ryan..." Seth muttered.

"No, you have other friends." Seth realized she was talking about Summer.

"Anna, you have to know..."

"Seth, I know you tried. I know, well, I think I know that you wanted us to be able to work, but I'm not the girl you love. You love Summer, I thought I could change that, but I can't, and I don't want to stand in your way."

"You're not in my way!" Seth argued.

Anna sighed, "I won't be anymore. But Seth, this really isn't just about you, okay? I just... I'm leaving tomorrow. I need to get home... To pack."

"What? So you're saying...?"

"Yeah, this is good bye."


	27. The Singles

"What's wrong with you?" Summer asked when she found Seth guzzling a drink on the couch.

Seth eyed her and took another long drink, "Anna dumped me." He told her.

"Oh." Summer wasn't sure what to say.

"Yeah, she's moving back with her aunt. Says she doesn't fit in here."

"Oh," Summer sat down next to Seth, "I'm sorry."

"Really?" Seth looked at her, in an odd way he didn't want her to be _sorry- _he wanted her to be happy about the news because that would mean...

"Well, yeah, I mean she was nice." Summer realized she had very little to say on the topic of Anna. Really, her and Anna had spoken only on occasion. Most of the time the girl made her feel uncomfortable with her forced intellectualism- if that was even a word and the way that she seemed to have _everything_ in common with Seth. Except a plastic horse of course.

"Yeah, she was." He took glug of his drink.

"Wow, what's with everyone tonight?" Summer shook her head.

"What's with you?" Seth asked, his eyes were slightly unfocused.

"I..." She paused, should she tell him that it was really over with Luke? If she told him, it would mean that she was thinking about him in that way... "I'm worried about Marissa." She finished, "She's been drinking."

"What else is new?" Seth muttered. "Have you seen Ryan?"

"Yeah, last I saw him he was with Marissa."

"Oh, that's good," Seth giggled.

"Hey guys, enjoying the party?" Oliver approached him, he was wearing a red smoking jacket and a glass of champaign. Seth wondered if he knew how truly rediculous he looked. He also didn't look like was particularly enjoying his own party.

"Yeah, it's great," Seth drank again.

"Summer, you seem a bit empty handed."

Summer shrugged, "I'm DD'ing."

"Oh right, very responsible, but you know, you and Marissa are more than welcome to spend the night here. I have more than enough bedrooms." Seth rolled his eyes.

"I'm good, but thanks." Summer smiled at him.

"If you insist, but remember, the offer's still on the table. By the way, I seem to have lost Marissa, have you seen her?"

"Nope," Seth said quickly, "But if I do, I will let her know that the man in the smoking jacket is looking for her."

Oliver looked slightly surprised by this response, clearly he had expected differently from Seth, "Okay..." Seth grinned at him and Oliver, looking uncomfortable, backed away.

"Sorry, just wanted to get rid of him." Seth shrugged apologetically.

"No complaints here," Summer smiled at him. "Look Seth... I know, you think, that there's something going on with me and Luke, but there isn't okay? I just.... Wanted you to know that."

"Really?" Seth looked positively delighted.

"Really," Summer confirmed.

"So... This means... We're both single."

"Yup." Summer agreed.

"Soo..."

"Sooo..." Summer eyed him mischeviously and Seth went in for the kiss.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry, I know this chapter was kinda short, but I'm trying to get at least 2 chapters up today (if not a second one here then prob. on "Glory Days" or "L'Chaim") and maybe start a new story either today or tomorrow- quick show of hands: Buffy or Harry Potter?**


	28. The Kid from Chino

A/N: I know... I know... Too many new projects and this one's still incomplete. I guess I've just had trouble deciding how it's gonna end, so I'm just stop thinking and start writing and see where it takes me.

* * *

"Oops..." Marissa said, as she looked at her empty glass. "Looks like I'm all out." She turned the glass upside down to demonstrate.

"Maybe you've had enough," Ryan suggested gently, taking the glass out of her hand and setting it down on a nearby table.

She looked at him for a moment, her gaze unsteady, "You're walking. Hey! You're walking!"

Ryan smiled, "Yeah, I am."

"That's good right?"

"Last time I checked."

"We should celebrate," She grabbed her cup up off the table and started to walk off toward the bar.

Ryan lightly grabbed her wrist and gently pulled her back, "I think you've done enough celebrating for the both of us..." He took the cup from her hand, "Besides, I can think of a better way to celebrate." He gently took her face in his hands and kissed her. She kissed him back. Her lips were as warm and soft as he remembered. God, how he had missed those lips.

"I like your idea of a celebration..." She murmered quietly.

"Me too..." Ryan whispered.

*****************************

Up on the 2nd floor balcony, Oliver looked down at the party. He watched as Ryan kissed Marissa.

_Oh, you might think the battle is won... But this isn't over Atwood!_

*****************************

"Hey Oliver, great party," Seth said, as Oliver stormed past him. Oliver noticed that him and Summer were holding hands.

Oliver paused, "Yeah, isn't it? All these people _finding _eacho ther... Getting back together... One big happy couple night..." He didn't sound happy about this.

"What was that about?" Seth asked, as the Oliver storm cleared past him.

Summer shrugged, "I think he's upset because Natalie isn't here."

"Oh right..." He glanced around the room, "Or because Ryan and Marissa are totally making out right now."

"What?" Summer whirled around. Sure enough, there was her best friend in a lip lock with none other than Ryan Atwood. "Oh... Wow... Guess they made up..."

"And are making up for lost time..." Seth wondered if either of them were ever going to come up for air.

"Speaking of making up for lost time..." Summer pulled his attention back to her, and pulled his lips to hers.

"So forceful..." Seth muttered, but it wasn't a complaint.

***********************************

"Marissa." Oliver's voice was low. Angry.

"Oliver..." Marissa pulled away from Ryan, but his hand stayed on her waist. Oliver felt his anger growing.

"Marissa... You can't... You're not supposed to be with him..." He said. Slowly he pulled out a gun. "You're supposed to be with me."

"Oliver... Don't do this." Ryan warned, he took a step toward him.

"You! This is all your fault! If it wasn't for you- she would be with me! Like it's meant to be."

"Oliver, stop... please..." Marissa begged. Her eyes brimmed with tears. She wasn't sure who the gun was meant for- her or Ryan. "Everything's going to be okay..."

"Easy for you to say." He scoffed. "You always get what you want, don't you." He aimed the gun at her.

"Oliver, hey man, that's not going to solve anything..." Ryan stepped foward.

"Oh yeah, easy for you to say." He swung the gun towards Ryan.

"Trust me Oliver, guns never solve any problems. Believe me."

"Right, of course you would know. The tough guy from Chino. Brought in by the Cohen's like a stray dog. Then here you are, taking what should never have been yours." His eyes went back to Marissa. The entire party had stopped. Everyone was staring. Behind Oliver's shoulder, Seth and Summer gaped at the scene playing out in front of their eyes. Ryan mouthed- "Call 9-1-1." To them, and hoped they would understand.

"Seriously, Oliver, put the gun down, and we can talk about this." Ryan took another small step closer.

"What's there to talk about? She's already made her decision..." He looked at her with a cold fury in his eyes. Ryan glanced at the gun again, and then, with Oliver's eyes off of him, he sprang forward. Marissa heard the click of the gun, the trigger being pulled, closed her eyes. Then nothing. She slowly opened her eyes.

Oliver was desperately trying to fight off Ryan, who was trying to keep him pinned to the ground. The gun had fallen from Oliver's grasp, and Marissa grabbed it and pulled it out of reach, as Oliver and Ryan wrestled on the floor. Luke jumped in and helped Ryan pin Oliver to the ground as Seth came foward and helped Ryan back to his feet.

Ryan was limping, he couldn't put any weight on his leg. Seth pulled his arm over his shoulder and helped him stay on his feet. "Police are on their way." He said. "Did you really just jump on a guy holding a loaded gun?" He asked Ryan.

Ryan smiled a little, "One good think about growing up in Chino... You get to know guns." He looked at Oliver, "The safety was still on."


	29. Right back where we started from

"I hate hospitals..." Ryan groaned.

"I know sweetie," Kirsten patted his good leg.

"Well, Ryan, maybe you should have thought of that before you went and did your hero thing." Seth said reasonably. Ryan glared at him.

"Ryan, I hope you realize, that was a very dangerous thing you did." Sandy said sternly.

Ryan shrugged, "I told you, the safety was on..."

"Wait... Dad, there was a guy waving a gun around and you're telling Ryan about safety? How about the fact that there was a guy waving a gun around! That seems far more dangerous to me!"

"Yes well... I'm not that kid's parents... Poor parents..."

"Poor kid," Ryan said, "His parents are never around. He's lonely. Lost... And clearly a little crazy. He never had someone like you guys to take care of him."

"Ryan, that guy just tried to kill you. And Marissa. Possibly a few other party-goers as well. And you're _defending _him?" Seth stared at Ryan.

Ryan shrugged again, "But he didn't... And now..."

"And now he's being taken to a psych hopsital for evaluation." Marissa said, as she and Summer appeared from behind the curtain where Ryan was being held in the ER, while the family waited for the results of his x-rays.  
Ryan... I'm..."

"You know what- I need some coffee- and I think we probably have some paperwork somewhere that we could be doing- Right Kirsten?"

"Right Sandy." Kirsten said. The two adults disappeared to give the kids some privacy.

"Ryan... I'm so sorry." Marissa hung her head, "I mean, I knew he was a little possessive but I had no idea..."

"It's fine. I don't think any of us did..."

"Thank you..." Marissa looked at him, tears shining in her eyes, "You saved my life."

"That's 2..." Seth muttered. Summer elbowed him in the stomach.

"Well, my Dad's here... I need to... He wants to talk..."

"Yeah, I'd imagine..." Ryan said.

"And she's giving me a ride soooo..." Summer kissed Seth.

"Think we can do better than that?" Ryan asked.

"Oh- In know we can..." Marissa said.

"Show offs..." Seth muttered as he continued to kiss Summer.

Fin.

* * *

**A/N: Oh wow- DONE! YAYYYY Hope you all enjoyed that**

**PS please please go and read my story X-Mennakah, it's my new fave and I promise lots of drama, h/c and super powers! *insert shameless plug here* **

**-CW**


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